Two tried for fiscal payment form forgery

TANGERANG (JP): Two employees of PT Gapura Angkasa, the sole provider of ground handling services to PT Garuda Indonesia, were tried on Tuesday for allegedly forging overseas fiscal payment forms at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.

Prosecutor Sriyati Sanjaya told the Tangerang District Court that defendants Rio Andika Siregar, 29, and Linda Marulina binti Abas, 28, both residents of Gunung Sahari subdistrict in Central Jakarta, falsified the forms along with an accomplice, Cucu Nursafaat, who earlier received a five-month jail term, and Adhy Kusmintarso, who is still at large.

They also counterfeited the stamp of Bank Mandiri's airport branch the prosecutor said, adding that they issued 100 false fiscal forms at Rp 600,000 each to passengers traveling overseas on Dec. 6, 2000.

The official fiscal payment is Rp 1 million.

The forgery was revealed after a passenger canceled his trip and tried to return the fiscal form at the bank's counter.

Nursafaat was soon arrested, but his three other accomplices escaped. The two defendants were arrested in July.

Police confiscated items believed to have been purchased by the defendants using the money obtained through the crime. They included a Nokia cellular phone that cost Rp 5.6 million, a Rp 3 million wrist watch, 13-gram and 50-gram gold bracelets valued at Rp 6.1 million, and a Rp 1.5 million TV set.

Separately, airport police chief Insp. Suari Wahyudi confirmed that two weeks ago police arrested another suspect in the same case, identified as Roy Marbun, 34.

He was suspected of helping the defendants sell the fake fiscal forms.

"Roy Marbun confessed to having obtained Rp 100 million through the forgery and had bought a Kijang van with money to be used for taxis," she told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday afternoon.(41)