2. March 2006 Made Jati Again Reported for Fraud at Polda Bali



(Police Report No. Pol: LP / 81 / III / 2006 / Dit Reskrim, dated March 14, 2006 with Pol: SP.Sidik / 90 / III / 2006, dated March 16, 2006)


The Initial Report:

Because the November 2005 report was not for suspected Fraud as Michael was told by Rifan of Austrindo Law Office, but for suspected Embezzlement, in March 2006 Michael again reported Made Jati for suspected Fraud at Polda Bali.

Michael’s new attorneys Maharidzal SH and Mangasi Simangunsong SH made a great effort to find an unbiased investigator. Eventually Michael reported the case to Hagnyono SH of Reskrim Polda Bali.

Hagnyono called twenty one witnesses for examination, including Michael’s witnesses Ni Made Artini and I Nyoman Sudana who had previously been excluded by Wayan Karta and whose testimony had been falsified in the decision of the National Court. Hagnyono also interviewed other witnesses present at the 1994 Bali marriage ceremony in Sanur, including the pendanda Ibu Pedanda Ayu Mas Eni who had helped conduct the ceremony. All the witnesses agreed that the ceremony had occurred in Sanur in 1994, not in Kuta in 1996.

Hagnyono then interviewed officials from Tabanan who had issued a Report of Hindu Marriage in 1996 stating that a ceremony had taken place in Tabanan in July 1996 (this is still another location for the imaginary ceremony). Made Jati had used this Report of Hindu Marriage in September 1996 to obtain the false marriage certificate in Denpasar. All the officials agreed that no such ceremony had taken place and that the Report of Hindu Marriage was false.

Hagnyono then interviewed Nyoman Suti (Made Jati's sister), Heru Widiyanto, I Nyoman Ada (Made Jati’s father) and the other witnesses who had explained to Wayan Karta that a ceremony had taken place in 1996. They now admitted to Hagnyono that they had lied, and the ceremony had actually taken place in 1994 in Sanur.

Hagnyono then called Made Jati as a suspect in a fraud. When confronted with the evidence, Made Jati admitted that the true ceremony had taken place in Sanur in 1994 and that the 1996 evidence was a fabrication.

But on 12 May 2006 the investigation hit a roadblock. Made Jati and her attorney Ida Bagus Wikantara paid a personal visit to the Director of the Criminal Investigations Division (DirResKrim), and after a one hour private meeting with him, the DirResKrim called Hagnyono to his office and asked him why he was continuing the investigation of Made Jati. Hagnoyono later told Michael, Maharidzal and Simangunsong that the DirResKrim ordered him to issue a suspending SP2HP letter. The DirResKrim was scheduled to transfer to a new post outside of Bali on the following Monday, however, so Hagnyono delayed writing up the SP2HP. The letter was finally issued only on 16 May 2006, one day after the DirReskrim was officially no longer in authority at Polda Bali. Nevertheless, the intervention was clear and Michael, Maharidzal and Simangunsong entered a letter of protest directly to the Chief of Police (Kapolda) complaining about collusion.

The investigation finally continued under orders from the Kapolda after some delay. Documents in evidence included

1. The original Marriage Certificate from 1985 in Los Angeles.

2. An Identity Card (KTP) in the name of Ni Made Jati issued 1 September 1994 in Tabanan, in which she claimed to be Single and which she used to obtain a new Marriage Certificate in Denpasar in 1996.

3. A certification of Unmarried Status from Tabanan issued in 1992 with the notation “to be used to buy land”.

4. A certification of Unmarried Status from Tabanan issued in 1996 with the notation “to be used for marriage certificate.”

5. A Family Registration card from 1997 in which the name of Michael Patrick Donnelly did not appear as a member of the family and Made Jati was named Head of Family.

6. A Hindu Report of Marriage issued in Tabanan and stating that a Hindu Marriage had occurred in Tabanan on 10 July 1996.

In September 2006 the complete police file was sent to the Public Prosecutor’s Office (Kejaskaan) with recommendation that Made Jati be indicted and tried with an accusation of criminal fraud.

Later Developments:

According to law, after the police submit a case for trial, the Kejaksaan must either accept the indictment, or if the case is insufficient, the Kejaksaan may return the file within 14 days to the police with what is known as a P-19 letter containing questions necessary for further evidence.

The Kejaksaan repeatedly returned the file to Polda 12 times for over a year. There is no requirement by law that the P-19 questions need to be new or previously unanswered questions or even that they make sense. Indeed in one meeting between investigators and the Kejakasaan, the assistant prosecutor, Suhadi, admitted that he had written the latest questions on orders from his superiors but he couldn’t explain their meaning because they appeared to be nonsensical.

In later meetings Suhadi and other prosecutors told Michael, Maharidzal, Simangunsong and others that the case file was actually complete and ready for trial, but that their superiors in the department had an interest in stopping the case.

In November 2006 the National Court Denpasar issued a judgment declaring Made Jati’s 1996 marriage documents invalid and acquired “In a Manner Contrary to Law.” The prosecutor, Olopan Nainggolan, immediately gave interviews to four area newspapers stating that he “laughed at the decision of the judges.” Privately he told Michael’s attorneys that a case brought by a foreigner against an Indonesian wife would never advance as long as he was prosecutor, and that if a foreigner is tricked by an Indonesia wife, “that’s the risk he takes for coming to Indonesia.”

In a meeting with the Assistant Chief Prosecutor (Wakajati) on 23 February 2007, the Wakajati told Michael’s attorneys in Michael’s presence (apparently unaware that Michael spoke Indonesian) that they were on his list as troublemakers. He was angry because their duty as Indonesian attorneys was to do what the Prosecutor’s Office wanted, not help foreigners who would soon leave the country anyway.

In the 11th P-19 rejection, the Kejaksaan demanded that Polda Bali investigators question Michael as a suspect for signing the false documents in Indonesian presented to him by Made Jati – in effect accusing Michael of defrauding himself – while still refusing to accept Made Jati herself as a suspect. The message and threat seemed clear: Michael could be indicted and convicted of criminal charges, even baseless ones, if he persisted.

Michael fled Indonesia in August 2007 after the death threat, and two months later Polda Bali stopped the case with an explanation "no evidence of a loss." In fact the relevant section of the criminal code (Pasal 266 KUHP) specifies that the crime of False Documentation requires 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. Polda Bali has never explained how "no evidence of a loss" applies to the closing of this case.

At the home she had once shared with Michael and their children, Made Jati threw a tremendous party attended by the Made's Angels to celebrate her victory.