- Suspects confess to using fake documents
Thursday, July 01, 2004
PC Naommy, Jakarta
Two suspects confessed on Wednesday to falsifying official documents used to smuggle 73,000 tons of sugar into the country, police said.
"Both suspects have confessed they were involved in making fake documents for the sugar importation," Brig. Gen. Samuel Ismoko, a director of the National Police's Financial Crimes Division, said.
Ismoko said Association of Village Cooperatives (Inkud) general trade division head Abdul Waris Halid and Effendy Kemek, an employee of one of the five partner companies of the consortium formed by Inkud, had been in custody at National Police Headquarters for one day and six days respectively.
He said police were still searching for two other suspects, Andi Badar Saleh, a freelancer working for the consortium, and consortium chairman Jack Tamin, who were also allegedly involved in faking the documents.
Abdul's lawyer, Edison Bahaubun, denied the police's claims.
"I strongly deny the police's statement that said that my client was involved in providing fake documents for the importation. It's not true," Edison told The Jakarta Post.
He said police had asked his client about the fake documents but Adbul had told them he knew nothing about them because he was not directly involved in operational issues.
Customs and Excise director general Eddy Abdurrachman said his office had discovered the bills of lading used by PT Phoenix to apply for the warehousing of the sugar were fake.
National Police have named eight suspects in the case. They are Abdul and Effendy, Jack Tamin and Andi Badar Saleh who remain at large and Phoenix director Raja Barnaje, who is currently in Thailand. The other three are high-ranking officials from the customs and excise office in Tanjung Priok.
Ismoko said police had questioned Wahyono, the head of the service division at Tanjung Priok customs and excise office, on Wednesday and were scheduled to question the head of the Tanjung Priok investigation section, Yan Miral, on Thursday and Friday.
Police have yet to set a questioning schedule for Muhammad Zein, the head of the investigation section at the customs office. They had not yet summoned Inkud chairman Nurdin Halid over the case.
Separately, Minister of Industry and Trade Rini MS Soewandi reiterated her denial she met with Nurdin to discuss a sugar import license.
"I don't know him. Even if I had met him 20 times, it wouldn't change the problem. The problem has developed from a smuggling issue into one of document forgery and the legal processes are currently underway," Rini said at the Presidential Palace on Wednesday.
Nurdin has filed a report with the National Police against Rini for libel.
Police previously announced they had confiscated a total of 65,000 tons of the smuggled sugar from warehouses in Jakarta, Bekasi, Bogor, and in Makassar, South Sulawesi. Their calculations now indicate they have seized 73,000 tons.
The illegal sugar has caused the price of Indonesian-made sugar to fall far under its production cost to between Rp 3,200 (US 34 cent) and Rp 3,300, causing big losses to local producers.