5. May 2007 M. Rifan SH and Peter Johnson LLB of Austrindo Law Office Reported at Polsek Kuta for Fraud

(Police Report No: LP-C/ 326/ V/ 2007/ Polsek Kuta dated 10 May 2007 with STPL/ 2006/ V/ 2007/ Polsek)

The Initial Report:

Michael and Made Jati agreed in March 2005 to a divorce of their 1985 marriage with a 50 / 50 division of assets. They agreed that Michael would start preparing documents with Austrindo Law Office. Michael signed a Power of Attorney letter on 20 March 2005 as Petitioner in Divorce with M Rifan SH and I G A R Fajar Harini at Austrindo Law Office. After four weeks of delay from Rifan, however, Michael was surprised to receive an Accusation of Divorce from Made Jati based upon false marriage documents claiming a non-existent 1996 Balinese marriage ceremony.

Without obtaining a Power of Attorney letter from Michael as Respondent, Austrindo Law Office entered a Response to the Accusation of Divorce and instructed Michael not to attend the divorce hearings. Made Jati won the divorce based upon the false 1996 documents.

Rifan and Fajar Harini then obtained a Power of Attorney letter from Michael for an appeal to the High Court. They wrote a Memo of Appeal and showed it to Michael, but the Decision the High Court stated that “until the moment the case was examined… from the side of the Respondent and / or his attorneys no Memo of Appeal was entered in the case.”

It appeared that there were many indications of improper legal procedures or collusion between Austrindo Law Office and Made Jati. These included incontrovertable evidence of suspected Fraud because Austrindo Law Office received payment with a Power of Attorney letter for an appeal to the High Court but then did not enter the necessary documents, ensuring that Michael would lose the appeal.

In May 2007 Michael reported Peter Johnson LLB, who claimed to be a lawyer in Bali and had given Michael legal advice on a number of issues, and M Rifan SH, for suspected Fraud.

Later Developments:

There were no later developments. Five witnesses were examined. According to the chief investigator, Peter Johnson was called but he never responded and so Polsek Kuta did not question him. Rifan was examined and the chief investigator reported to Michael that Rifan "claimed that Made Jati had budgeted up to one million dollars to defeat her husband in this case and there was no way for Michael to win."

The case was ended without further investigation and with no formal or informal explanation to the complainant, Michael, about why the case was stopped. It appears that no serious investigation ever took place.