Indonesian Postal Staff 'Too Stressed' to See Swindle

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/ind ... dle/389139" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Jakarta. Four low-level postal workers managed to embezzle Rp 2.3 billion ($257,000) over two years because of the negligence, lack of adherence to procedures and heavy workloads of their supervisors, a court heard on Monday.

Witnesses told the East Jakarta District Court there were several procedures that they should have, but did not, adopt to detect the embezzlement.

They said stress and ignorance had blinded them to the methods the four defendants had used to siphon off the money customers deposited to pay utility bills at the Pos Indonesia office on Jalan Pemuda in East Jakarta between January 2008 and November 2009.

Prosecutor Yuliani identified the defendants as teller Teguh Prayitno; cashier supervisor Irianto Trikorahardjo; and Gimin Iswanto and Tugi Suarto, staff at the branch’s external postal services, or UPL, who were responsible for monitoring the branch’s financial activities.

All four defendants are charged with accounting violations and could face a maximum prison sentence of 20 years and up to Rp 1 billion in fines.

Supardi, who worked as an accounting supervisor at the branch, told the court that suspicions were not raised as the balance sheet reports that he received at the end of each day were just summaries, not detailed lists of transactions.

“I only came to know about this case after an internal audit was conducted by the company,” he said.

“I learned of the exact amount embezzled when officers from the Jakarta Prosecutors’ Office interrogated me.”

He admitted, however, that he had often received unsigned balance sheet reports from the Jalan Pemuda branch but never really did anything about them.

Supardi said he knew the daily balance reports needed to be signed by the branch manager.

“I notified Gimin, he was the only one from the branch I notified about the missing signatures,” he said.

“I believe that the misappropriations went unnoticed because the daily summarized reports were doctored to match the reduced amounts.”

Maria Simbolon, another accounting supervisor, admitted that even when she did notice the signatures were missing she still went ahead and processed the daily reports and only notified the branch about the irregularities via the branch’s UPL officers.

“Reports of daily transactions by tellers were recapitulated by the supervisor and then evaluated by UPL staff before they reached us,” she said.

“I notified Gimin about the missing signatures and he said he would follow it up.”

Supardi said they had to process the daily balance sheets even though they lacked the proper training to do so.

“If we didn’t, they would stack up on our desk,” he said.

Defense lawyer Wahidin asked Supardi if he knew whether the defendants had handed back the money.

“The Jakarta Prosecutors’ Office told me they had returned about Rp 780 million,” he said.

[Lounge Lizard]

"Four low-level postal workers" - is that how we're all rated by management ?