Three engineers on trial for plagiarism
Three engineers on trial for plagiarism
JAKARTA (JP): Three engineers and an employee of a private
company went on trial here yesterday for plagiarizing a hydraulic
analysis for the reclamation of the capital's northern coastline.
Public prosecutor Mawardi told the South Jakarta District
Court that Achmadi Sulaiman, Bambang Widyarno, Zainal Amin and
Ade Abednego had plagiarized the "Hydraulic Analysis for the
Reclamation Plan of the Northern Coastline of Jakarta" compiled
by PT Sac Nusantara.
Judge Sutrisno presided over the trial session.
"The defendants have violated Article 44 of Property Rights
Law Number 7 issued in 1987, as well as Article 55 of the
Criminal Code," Mawardi said.
The maximum sentence for the violations is seven years
imprisonment and a Rp 100 million fine.
Mawardi said that the four defendants committed the crime in
March last year with three other suspects, identified as Aswin
Osantana, Hadi Rianto and Sigit Siswantono. The three men are
being tried in the Central Jakarta District Court on similar
charges.
The prosecutor explained that Aswin Osantana, Director of PT
Kharisma Wira Perkasa, needed a hydraulic analysis for a project
proposal on the reclamation of the northern coastline of Jakarta
to submit to the city administration.
City administration has started to reclaim the northern
coastline of Jakarta to obtain a total of 2,700 hectares of land.
The reclaimed land will be used for residential and business
purposes.
Aswin asked Sigit Siswanto to steal the hydraulic analysis
done by PT Sac Nusantara from the city office's file, the
prosecutor charged. PT Sac Nusantara had previously submitted a
reclamation project proposal, including a hydraulic analysis, to
the city administration.
After obtaining the hydraulic analysis Aswin asked Ade
Abednego to look for engineers to copy it.
"Aswin told Abednego to copy the hydraulic analysis of PT Sac
Nusantara," the prosecutor said. He added that Aswin gave PT Sac
Nusantara's hydraulic analysis, reference discs, books on
hydraulics and a fraudulent report on a reclamation plan made by
the Bandung-based Center of Water Research and Development.
Abednego then made a deal with Achmadi, Bambang and Zaenal to
make copy of hydraulic analysis and changed the cover for the
report.
PT Kharisma Wira Perkasa used the resulting hydraulic analysis
report in its project proposal for reclamation of the northern
coastline of Jakarta, which it submitted to the municipal
administration and related agencies.
The fraud was disclosed when the director of PT Sac Nusantara,
Rudy M.G. Schuld, reported to the City Prosecutors' Office that
he suspected that his firm's report had been plagiarized.
PT Sac Nusantara registered "The Hydraulic Analysis for the
Reclamation Plan of the Northern Coastline of Jakarta" with the
Ministry of Justice's Directorate of Property Rights, Patents,
and Trademarks, under Number 013246, on May 3, 1995. (29)