3. April 2007 Made Jati Reported for Land Fraud at Polres Tabanan

(Police Report No: LP/ 80/ IV/ 2007/ Tabanan District Police, dated 27 April 2007: with Pol: SP.Sidik/ 26/ IV/ 2007/ Reskrim, April 27, 2007)

The Initial Report:

While sorting through the bewildering puzzle of family documents in October 2006, Michael discovered another “Certification of Unmarried Status” issued in Tabanan in 1992. This letter had appeared by itself in Made Jati’s submission to the Civil Records Office to obtain a new Certificate of Marriage in 1996, but here it was attached to a land purchase document. With an examination of the land documents, an entirely new suspected fraud came to light. Michael reported it to the police at Polres Tabanan in April 2007.

The land in question was what is now Kori Restaurant. The property was originally owned and built by Steven Palmer and his wife Wayan Lasmi, and it was held in Wayan Lasmi’s name. Steve Palmer gave it entirely to Wayan Lasmi as settlement in a divorce, and she sold it to Michael McHugh in 1988. Michael McHugh held it in the name of Made Jati’s father, and then in 1992 he sold it to Michael and Made Jati.

Made Jati was to arrange the title transfer. The documents attached to the Certification of Unmarried Status showed that she used a suspected fraud to do it. Rather than transferring title as a purchase, Made Jati and her father I Nyoman Ada transferred the title as a “Family Gift” from father to unmarried child. With this they avoided taxes on the purchase but they also categorized Kori as Made Jati’s “property before marriage.”

The police in Tabanan interviewed eight witnesses including Made Jati herself as a suspect. In November 2007 they issued an Arrest Warrant and they sent the file to the Kejaksaan with recommendation that Made Jati be indicted for suspected criminal False Documentation.

The warrant was issued on the morning of 23 November 2007, but Made Jati left her home that morning before the Warrant could be served, probably tipped off by an informer at Polres Tabanan. She left Indonesia and did not return to Bali for over six months. A week after she fled Indonesia she was in Bangkok, and on 5 December 2007 she landed in New York. From there she traveled to California where she lived in the beach resort town of Newport Beach for the next six months.

Later Developments:

Made Jati had slipped the Arrest Warrant, but case preparations in Tabanan continued. Interest from city officials was undoubtedly intense. Tabanan was the city of Made Jati’s double indentity as an unmarried woman, and she had obtained dozens of documents signed by local officials falsely testifying to non-existent ceremonies or false status reports.

The Kejaksaan twice rejected the police file with P-19 letters in December 2007 and May 2008. The Chief Investigator was removed from office and transferred out of Tabanan in May 2008. Two weeks later on 4 June 2008 Made Jati left California and returned to Bali despite having filed a custody case for the children in the California Superior Court and being under court order to continue visitation with the children. She never again returned to California and later filed a declaration with the California court that she was no longer interested in custody.

In August 2008 the new investigator at Polres Tabanan ordered a stop to the investigation.

Legality of police activities in Indonesia or any nation is governed by statute and police procedures must be in accord with the law. That is, just because the police do it doesn’t mean it is legal. In this case, investigators and prosecutors in Tabanan appear to have shut down the indictment in a manner contrary to law without notifying the complainant, Michael, of the reasons for halting the case, and while violating proper procedures.

No one denied a suspected crime had occurred, but the reason finally given for halting the case was that the statute of limitations had expired. The Kejaksaan and police claimed that over twelve years had passed since Made Jati and I Nyoman Ada had made the suspected illegal transfer in 1992.

However, just as in the case at Polda Bali which had been shut down with the excuse “no evidence of a loss”, the Tabanan excuse appeared to be not in accord with the criminal code. Statute of limitations refer to “completion of a crime.” In fact the relevant section (Pasal 266 KUHP) specifies that the crime of False Documentation has two parts: 1) the acquisition of a false document, and then 2) the use of that document in a manner that causes or could potentially cause material or non-material loss to another person. The suspected crime in question was not just the illegal transfer from I Nyoman Ada to Made Jati, but also the use of those transfer documents to defraud Michael.

Family assets are currently in litigation in a civil case which began in 2009, and Made Jati claims that the Kori property is an asset before marriage. That is, the completion of this suspected crime began only in 2009 with the “use of that document” and it is continuing at present. The Kori false documentation is an ongoing suspected crime.