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Singaporean sentenced to prison for fake Indonesian passport
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Guilty – Singaporean citizen 69-year-old Teo Boon Tiak (left), is pictured after being sentenced by the Batam District Court’s panel of judges to one year in prison for falsifying identity documents to get an Indonesian passport. (thejakartapost.com/Fadli)
T
he Batam District Court has sentenced Singaporean citizen Teo Boon Tiak, 69, to one year in prison and ordered him to pay Rp 10 million ( US$764 ) in fines for falsifying his identity to get an Indonesian passport.
Presiding judge Endi Nurindra Putra said the defendant was proven guilty of falsifying several documents, such as a birth certificate and residential identity, in an attempt to get an Indonesian passport. He read out the panel’s ruling, which was translated into Mandarin, during a hearing on Thursday.
“The defendant is found guilty and we sentence him to one year in prison and order him to pay Rp 10 million in fines or face an additional six months in prison. We allow you to consider this ruling,” said Endi.
He said the judging panel gave the defendant a lighter sentence than that demanded by prosecutors as he was old and had never before committed a criminal offense under Indonesian law. The defendant also admitted to his misdeeds, Endi added.
Teo Boon Tiak, alias Tommy, who was not accompanied by a lawyer during the trial but by a Mandarin translator, accepted the court’s verdict.
“He [Teo Boon Tiak] accepted the verdict, your excellency. But if possible, he said, he wanted the punishment to be slightly reduced,” said the translator.
The court’s prosecution team said it would consider the ruling. Prosecutor Arie Prasetyo said it was likely that the team would file an appeal because the sentence was less than what had been demanded.
“The verdict is lower than our charge. In the trial, I said I would consider it and it was likely that we would file an appeal. I will discuss it first with our superiors,” said Arie.
According to the prosecution team, Teo Boon Tiak violated Article 126 ( C ) of Law No. 6/2011 on immigration. He was not accompanied by a lawyer throughout the trial, which began on June 23.
Teo Boon Tiak attempted to use a fake passport to return to Singapore on Feb. 18 from Sekupang Port in Batam. He was ready to board the Sindo ferry to Singapore’s Harbour Front Center when Batam immigration officers grew suspicious about his passport and arrested him. (ebf)
