1. November 2005 Made Jati Reported for Fraud at Polda Bali

(Police Report No. Pol: LP / 329 / XI / 2005 / Dit Reskrim, dated 28 November 2005 with STPL / 329 / XI / 2005 / Dit Reskrim)

The Initial Report:

After the National Court Denpasar granted Made Jati’s Accusation of Divorce based on the non-existent 1996 Balinese marriage, Michael asked Rifan of Austrindo Law Office to help file a criminal report at the Criminal Investigations Division of the Bali Police (Reskrim Polda Bali).

Rifan organized and translated for Michael as he reported suspected a) False Documents in an Official Act, and b) Fraud in the preparation of the 1996 marriage documents.

In January 2006 Polda Bali issued a Suspension of Investigation (SP2HP) letter. According to the investigator Wayan Karta, all witnesses agreed that a Balinese marriage ceremony occurred in 1996 and there was no evidence of Fraud. (See Summary I-68 to I-72)

Michael was irritated to see that the witnesses he mentioned in his original Complaint did not appear in the SP2HP letter. Wayan Karta had met Michael’s witnesses and they told Wayan Karta that the Bali ceremony had occurred in 1994, but Wayan Karta did not use their testimony.

Later Developments:

Three months after Wayan Karta stopped the investigation with the SP2HP letter, Michael hired new lawyers Maharidzal SH and Mangasi Simangunsong SH to replace Austrindo Law Office. With their assistance he read the SP2HP and the Decision of the National Court Denpasar in the original Indonesian. He was surprised to discover that Rifan had misinformed him about the divorce decision of the National Court and about the Police Report of November 2005 and about Polda's SP2HP letter.

• The testimony of Michael’s witnesses in the National Court had been falsified, reversed and ignored in the trial record. These were the same witnesses whose testimony had been deleted by Wayan Karta in his investigation. (See Summary I-74 to I-77)
• The suspected crime, pengelapan, reported to Polda Bali was not Fraud as Rifan had told Michael. Fraud is penipuan. Rifan reported pengelapan, or embezzlement. Embezzlement is impossible between husband and wife under Indonesian law because they own all assets in common. So once Wayan Karta proved that Michael and Made Jati were legally married, he dismissed the charge of penipuan without further investigation.

So it appeared that individuals of the National Court, Polda Bali and Rifan of Austrindo Law Office had collaborated to suppress Michael’s witnesses, falsify evidence, and deceive Michael into believing that a true court deliberation and a true police investigation had taken place. In fact, it seemed, the decision and investigation were fraudulent.

Interestingly, in May 2006, under questioning by an investigator in a new report at Polda Bali, Made Jati admitted there had not been a ceremony in 1996. This directly contradicted Wayan Karta’s conclusion in his SP2HP and the testimony of all Wayan Karta's witnesses. But Polda Bali did not reactivate the investigation.