Theft at Peruri revealed

Theft at Peruri revealed

JAKARTA: An employee of state security printer Perum Peruri,
which prints the country's banknotes, was arrested over the
weekend by the police for alleged theft of thousands of banknotes
worth billions of rupiah over the past several years.

The deputy chief of the Jakarta Police's fraud squad, Adj. Sr.
Comr. Agung Sabar Santoro, said on Monday that his officers were
still ascertaining the total amount of money that had been stolen
and how many people were involved in the theft.

The suspect, who had been a Peruri employee for 20 years and
was identified as Mulyono, was arrested after the police received
an anonymous letter two weeks ago stating that a theft racket had
been going on in the state company for years.

"Based on the report, we launched an investigation and
questioned a number of employees, and this lead us to the
suspect," Agung said.

The suspect may be charged under Article 372 of the Criminal
Code on theft, which carries a maximum punishment of five years
in prison.

The case confirms widespread rumors of lax internal control in
the security printer, which could partly explain the increasing
number of counterfeit banknotes circulating in the country over
the last several years.

Figures from Bank Indonesia show that between January and
September of last year, BI recovered 36,550 fake notes -- an
increase of 40 percent compared to the same period in 2003. -- JP