Civil Servant Arrested for Fake Singapore Dollars

[see323]

January 03, 2010 Farouk Arnaz

 

<H3 id=articleheadline>Civil Servant Arrested for Fake Singapore Dollars</H3>The National Police last week arrested a resident of Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara, on suspicion of possessing and distributing Rp 1.3 billion ($138,000) worth of counterfeit Singapore dollars.

 

A police official told the Jakarta Globe on Sunday this was the country’s biggest counterfeit bust involving Singapore dollars.

 

“We uncover a lot of counterfeit rupiah and US dollars but we were surprised by this find,” said Brig. Gen. Radja Erisman, director of economic crimes at the National Police.

 

Radja said the suspect, Viktorino dos Santos, 54, a civil servant, changed the counterfeit Singapore dollars into rupiah at a bank in Kupang.

 

“The suspect had already exchanged 10,000 counterfeit Singapore dollars, worth Rp 1.3 billion, at a Bank Mandiri branch,” he said, without saying when the transaction occurred.

 

Radja said the bank teller failed to spot the notes as fakes.

 

“The counterfeits were only discovered when they arrived at Bank Mandiri’s treasury division in Jakarta,” he said.

 

Markus Klau, a Bank Mandiri employee in Kupang, was able to identify dos Santos as the person who exchanged the counterfeit dollars. The police interviewed two other Bank Mandiri officials — Suyuti, from the treasury division, and Loerintius Aris Budianto, the branch head in Kupang, before making the arrest.

 

Radja said police were working to trace the bills to find out where they were printed and who else was involved. He said the National Police would work with authorities in Singapore in the investigation.

 

“We hope the suspect will be cooperative and reveal his accomplices,” he said.

 

Dos Santos could be charged under the Criminal Code on embezzlement and fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of four years in prison.

 

In May, police arrested five people for possessing more than 4,000 fake Rp 100,000 bills.

[see323]

Feb 10, 2010

Duo jailed for dud $10k notes

By Elena Chong, Courts Correspondent

 

TWO Indonesians were each jailed for nine years on Wednesday for using and possessing fake $10,000 currency notes.

 

Akhmad Zamroni, 41, a free-lance consultant, and Jerry Ribelard Bollu Eoh, 53, unemployed, pleaded guilty to using as genuine a counterfeit $10,000 at the Mustafa Centre in exchange for smaller denomination on Oct 27 last year.

 

They also admitted to having 60 pieces of fake $10,000 currency notes, intending to use them as genuine, the same day.

 

The court heard that both men conspired with others in Indonesia to exchange fake $10,000 notes in Singapore for other currency, and share the proceeds.

 

Akhmad was given a total of 91 pieces of counterfeit notes by one Bayu in Indonesia and tasked to bring them over and have them exchanged.

 

Jerry was assigned to follow him to Singapore and assist to carry out the exchange. But the moneychanger at Mustafa suspected the note to be a fake and reported to his supevisor. The police were called.

[akdrv]

See, have you ever seen 1K or 10K notes in circulation?

 

I've only recently come across a $100 note that was given to me at the airport GST refund counter.

 

Maybe the high denomination notes will be popular in the new casinos.

[gxseries]

I have come across a 1k note before while I was in Singapore. But that was from the ship series.

 

Honestly though, I thought bank tellers would be very cautious if it's a 10,000 dollar note.

[see323]

See, have you ever seen 1K or 10K notes in circulation?

 

I've only recently come across a $100 note that was given to me at the airport GST refund counter.

 

Maybe the high denomination notes will be popular in the new casinos.

 

akdrv - Yes, 1k is pretty common. 10k is not so common. You usually do not find them in circulation unless you need to pay something in cash. I did withdrawn 10k notes before from the bank as I need to pay in cash for some goods.

 

True - high denomination notes should be popular in the two new casinos. Sands casinos at Marina will only be in operation on 27 Apr 2010. The Resort World Sentosa (RWS) started operation on the first day of Chinese New Year - 14 Feb 2010 ( also a Valentine day ). Singapore do not encourage her citizens to gamble, I believe, the two Singapore casinos are the only casinos in the world that collect $100 SGD entry fee from Singaporeans and Singapore Permanent Resident. Therefore, casinos welcome foreigners, tourists and high-rollers. Luckily, I am not into gambling. I am more excited over the rest of the activities and attractions at the IR ( Integrated Resorts ) such as the world largest aquarium and Universal Studios etc.

[see323]

I have come across a 1k note before while I was in Singapore. But that was from the ship series.

 

Honestly though, I thought bank tellers would be very cautious if it's a 10,000 dollar note.

 

Did you get to keep the Ship series 1k note ? It's a pretty beautiful note. Much nicer than the current portrait series.

 

Yes, Bank tellers, money changers should be cautious when receiving a 1k and a 10k.