Noisy Trial, Defendant Of Fraud Insists Paper Cuts Are Tens Of Billions Of Real Money

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AMBON - Josepha Kelbulan, a defendant in a billion-rupiah fraud case, persists in saying that the evidence in the form of white paper clippings in the size of the Rp100,000 denomination is real money, which amounts to Rp70 billion.

"The money was obtained from an overseas donor named Ela Shou who was handed over at the Aston Jakarta Hotel and taken to Ambon," said Josepha in response to the panel of judges' questions in the trial at the Ambon District Court, quoted by Antara, Thursday, October 7.

In the trial, the Ambon Prosecutor's Office team presented evidence in the form of white paper clippings packaged in bundles of money.

The total number of white papers that were cut out was actually 35 cartons which were confiscated by the Maluku Regional Police DiresKirmum during the development of the case investigation.

Even though the panel of judges had repeatedly convinced him, the defendant still insisted that it was money from the donor to him as the Chairperson of the Children of the Nation 11 Foundation for East Indonesia Province.

The money is planned to be distributed to hundreds of volunteers who are members of the foundation for Rp200 million each.

The defendant also admitted that the Rp70 billion money from the donor was then taken to Ambon by air without any security personnel escort and only four people close to the defendant who delivered it.

He also admitted that he had pointed some of the billions of rupiah to the defendant Lambert W. Miru, which he denied.

Defendant Josepah's confession about a foreign donor named Ela Shouw had been denied by other witnesses at the previous trial, where they asked for the donator's contact number, and when contacted it turned out that the number belonged to the defendant.

The defendant's attitude at the trial made the atmosphere boisterous because of the large number of court visitors who were mostly victims of fraud by the defendant Josepha and Lambert E. Miru as the main board of the foundation.