Witness says defendant lied in fake money case

Witness says defendant lied in fake money case

JAKARTA (JP): A police witness said on Thursday that Junie, a
defendant in the Rp 19.2 billion (US$2.1 million) counterfeit
money case, had given false testimony during the initial court
hearing.

She told the court she had no idea that counterfeit money was
being made until one week before she quit, Sr. Insp. R. Umar
Faroq of the National Police Detectives for counterfeit money
crimes said.

"Three of the 10 defendants -- A Khui, Ismail Putra and Eddy
Kereh -- told police detectives during questioning that Junie
knew the defendants were going to print money before they got
into the business," he told the hearing at Central Jakarta
District Court, which was presided over by judge Rasadi Salmun.

Umar said Ismail had told him and other police detectives that
the quality of the first print was bad.

"A Khui, Ismail and Eddy said Junie was in charge of sorting
the bad banknotes from the good right from the start. She would
also join Eddy and Ismail, they said, in destroying the bad
banknotes by burning them," Umar told the court hearing.

"She was in charge of all the bookkeeping for any expenses
incurred in the production of the money. Evidence seized from her
Grogol residence on Feb. 29 proves that much."

Junie rejected what Umar said in court about her.

Ismail was arrested along with nine others at printing company
PT Jaya Abadi Prima in Palmerah, West Jakarta, in February and
March. The production and distribution of counterfeit money
occurred between July last year and February this year.

In the initial hearing, Junie said Ismail had asked her to
handle the bookkeeping for the business of printing confidential
state documents.

Junie said she ended up staying at the Palmerah house, where
she worked in a "locked room," doing the bookkeeping of "the
money which was spent by Ismail".

There are two police reports on the testimonies given by
Junie, and each one gives a different account.

In the first report dated Feb. 29, Junie told police that on
the day she introduced Ismail and Eddy Kereh to another
defendant, Yustinus Kasminto, they had discussed "the big order"
that the group had received.

"The order was for printing rupiah banknotes, since Ismail had
the paper for the K2 and K5 types. What I didn't know was the
denominations of the banknotes," Junie said in the first police
report.

"In July 1999, I was introduced to Ardy Sukarman (alias A
Khui) by Ismail and Eddy at Citraland Mall in Grogol. Ismail told
me that Ardy would sponsor the money printing project."

In the second police report, dated March 21, Junie stated that
she did not know anything about the production of counterfeit
money until a week before she left the business.

Junie's lawyer, Donnie, told the hearing on Thursday that Umar
was giving information based on what was said by other
defendants.

"He doesn't even know if the Rp 50 million in counterfeit
money (evidence seized from counterfeit dealers Hendra and
Hermanady) was printed at the Palmerah residence, does he?"
Donnie said.

Umar said after the evidence was seized from Hendra, he led
the police to arrest A Khui, who later led them to Junie,
Kasminto and then Ismail.

"I asked Ismail what the serial number prefixes on the
counterfeit money printed at the Palmerah residence were and
Ismail recited all the ones that were used on the money seized
from Hendra and Hermanady."

In a separate court hearing on Thursday, presided by judge
Poerwanto, the Central Jakarta District Court heard the testimony
of Sr. Insp. Yakobus, the officer who questioned defendants
Ismail and A Khui.

Yakobus told the hearing that Eddy, A Khui and Ismail had
tried to print counterfeit money in Java, and had traveled around
Purwokerto, Muntilan and Yogyakarta for 15 days before returning
to the capital.

A Khui then gave 14 reams of Super Omega branded paper to Eddy
Kereh for safekeeping until they caught up with Kasminto through
Junie, Yakobus said.

In a police report on Ismail, Yakobus asked him what reason
did Tyasno (then chief of the military intelligence body Maj.
Gen. Tyasno Sudarto) give him when Tyasno said the central bank
had granted him a permit to print money for the Indonesian
Military.

Ismail answered: "The reason was that the central bank had
been forbidden by the Indonesian Monetary Fund (IMF) to print
Indonesian rupiah." (ylt)