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Jakarta Post

Three perpetrators of bank fraud in DBS Singapore serve sentences

A trial of banking crime in DBS Singapore involving three Indonesian women at the East Jakarta Court and Tangerang Banten Province Court has been completed, with the three perpetrators now serving their sentences.

Inforial (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta, Indonesia
Thu, February 14, 2019

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Three perpetrators of bank fraud in DBS Singapore serve sentences Bank fraud: Robiatun Saadiyah attends a trial hearing at the East Jakarta District Court for involvement in banking crime in February 2018. (Courtesy of Bareskrim)

E

em>Eleven fraudulent interbank fund transfers without knowledge of the source account owners were recorded in the period of December 2016 – March 2017. In eight of the 11 cases, the transfers could not be undone by the banks, meaning a total of US$1,860,000 evaporated.

A trial of banking crime in DBS Singapore involving three Indonesian women at the East Jakarta Court and Tangerang Banten Province Court has been completed, with the three perpetrators now serving their sentences.

The perpetrators in the fraud case were Robiatun Saadiyah (RSD), alias Irawati Kurniawan, Ida Ayu Kartika (IAK) and Bernadeta Febrisia Hadjon (BFH) alias Fallenthyna Febrisia.

The trial on April 3, 2018, revealed that someone had ordered Robiatun to withdraw money from a bank account owned by PT Jerminggo Global by first falsifying the deed and other legal documents on behalf of the company, according to the National Police’s Criminal Investigation Department (Bareskrim).

The woman registered the deeds and documents with the Law and Human Rights Ministry prior to opening an account at BRI. In return for her success of withdrawing the money, Robiatun received 15 percent of the withdrawn funds.

The judge handed down the verdict and sentenced Robiatun to 11 years in prison, a longer term than demanded by the prosecutor.

Robiatun filed an appeal with the High Court to ask for a sentence reduction to eight years of imprisonment. However, she filed another appeal in cassation and ended up receiving a six-year prison sentence.

In the trial it was revealed that funds worth US$500,000 transferred to Bank Mandiri were used to buy five apartments, but the purchases were later cancelled by the prospective buyers, who requested the money back (excluding a cancellation fee). The individuals that had ordered the apartments were expatriates of Nigerian nationality.

 The court decided to return the penalty funds worth US$115,717 to the victim.

Meanwhile, one of the Nigerian citizens identified as EAM, 25, allegedly led the people that had ordered the apartment. Police raided a rental property in Gading Serpong area, South Tangerang, where EAM lived, but failed to arrest EAM, who is still at large.

The court also sentenced Ida, who received the transferred money amounting to US$100,000 to a 3.5-year jail term. The court seized a sedan and Rp 200 million in cash and returned the asset and the money to the crime victim’s bank account.

Through her lawyer, Ida wrote a letter stating her commitment to return the remaining money that she had already spent once she would receive money from the sale of land.

Police commissioner Hendrawan, a special investigator with Bareskrim, disclosed on Jan. 24, 2019, that Bernadeta, a woman with a 20-month-old baby, turned out to be the unofficial wife of EAM.

Prosecutor Herdian Malda Ksatria said the defendant had been found guilty of illegal money transfer, document forgery and money laundering. The defendant was charged under Criminal Code (KUHP) Article 85 of Law No. 3/2011 on fund transfers, Article 263 (2) on forgery and articles 3 or 5 and/or 10 of Law No. 8/2010 on the prevention and eradication of money laundering.

He said the banking crime perpetrators broke into the bank account by gaining access to an e-mail account owned by Elen, a secretary of one of the companies targeted by bank fraudsters, enabling them to read every email delivered to DBS Singapore. The perpetrator also sent a false letter of confirmation to the bank using the email address, he said.

He said the perpetrators had sent an email to Elen pretending to be an official representing the bank, providing updated information on the account balance that remains safe. “Because of this, Elen did not think at all that someone had stolen the funds owned by her boss in the three bank accounts,” he said.

Following the revealed cases of bank fraud, he reminded banks to remain alert so as to keep customers’ trust. 

He also disclosed that the money had been channeled to domestic and overseas banks.

These are the names of banks receiving the funds:

Local banks:

  • US$300,000 to BRI, PT. Jerminggo Global Internasional on Nov. 29, 2016
  • US$500,000 to Bank Mandiri, PT. Trika Bumi Pertiwi on Dec. 15, 2016
  • US$100,000 to Bank BCA, PT. Citra Ayu Samudera Biru on Dec. 30, 2016
  • US$50.000 to Bank Danamon, Falenthyina Febrysia Hadjon on March 3, 2017

   Overseas banks:

  • US$400,000 to World Salexpo Co Ltd. Shanghai Pudong Development Bank China on Dec. 19, 2016
  • US$400,000 to Hong Kong Best Luck Trading Ltd Bank Hang Seng Bank Limited on Dec. 21, 2016
  • US$40,000 to World Salexpo Co Ltd Shanghai Pudong Development Bank China on Dec. 30, 2016.
  • US$70,000 to SPS Steel International Co Ltd China Merchants Bank on Jan. 9, 2017

Hendrawan said the court had seized Rp180 million in cash from BFH, which had been returned to the victim.

The funds transferred to domestic banks totaled US$950,000 or about Rp 12.8 billion. The transfer of money to Bank Danamon was conducted while the victim in close communication with DBS regarding the banking fraud, while the owner of the bank account was at his office in Jakarta and there was no phone call for confirmation from DBS.

Meanwhile, the funds transferred to overseas banks totaled US$910.000 or about Rp 12.3 billion.

He said the victim had reported the case to the police in Hong Kong through his lawyer in Singapore but had not received any response.

Hendrawan said police would continue to unravel the international syndicate, with the search targeted on EAM as the main suspect.

An investigation to the syndicate revealed a fictitious transaction worth approximately Rp 43 billion, with the money transferred to Bank Mandiri’s Serang branch office.

He said four suspects had been arrested and put on trial at the Serang Banten District Court. The four defendants faced three years in jail.

Police seized about Rp 40 billion in cash from the four defendants.

He said the court had also decided to declare the seized money state assets, because the overseas owner of the money had failed to show up at the court until the trial was completed.

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