Beddu Amang arrested after brief spell on the lam<\/p>\n
Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Police arrested former State Logistics Agency (Bulog) head Beddu
\nAmang on Sunday, just one day after he was declared a fugitive
\nfrom justice, and immediately started questioning him over his
\nrole in a scam involving government livestock feed subsidies.<\/p>\n
Beddu was apprehended as he was undergoing a medical
\nexamination in the Sumarno VIP room at the Dr. Soekanto Police
\nHospital in Kramat Jati, East Jakarta, which was allowed to
\ncontinue until 8:45 p.m, Antara reported. He had registered for
\nthe medical examination under his wife's name.<\/p>\n
The questioning went ahead after doctors declared Beddu was
\nfit to undergo interrogation as a suspect at National Police
\nHeadquarters on Jl. Trunojoyo, South Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Beddu failed to answer a police summons on Friday and
\nsubmitted a letter saying he needed a two-week rest due to ill
\nhealth.<\/p>\n
Police put Beddu, who has to serve a two-year jail term in
\nanother graft case, on their wanted list on Saturday after
\ninvestigators failed to find him at his residence in Kemang,
\nSouth Jakarta, on Friday.<\/p>\n
Beddu was tightlipped as he completed his medical examination,
\nafter which he was escorted to a waiting Kijang van which brought
\nhim to National Police Headquarters.<\/p>\n
It remained unclear why Beddu had not cooperated with the
\npolice investigation, but his lawyer Djoko Pabowo Saebani told
\nreporters his client would cooperate with the police from now on
\nin the investigation into a graft case that caused Rp 841 billion
\n(US$99 million) in state losses.<\/p>\n
Beddu's failure to turn up for police questioning had drawn
\npublic criticism that law enforcers were too lenient in dealing
\nwith suspects.<\/p>\n
Legal analyst Hendardi had accused the former government
\nofficial of trying to evade justice so that he could continue
\nliving his comfortable lifestyle.<\/p>\n
\"I think Beddu Amang is trying to avoid imprisonment, not just
\navoid police investigation,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Last year, the police moved too late to execute a judgment
\nsending businessman Samadikun Hartono to jail. Samadikun was
\neventually found to have fled overseas.<\/p>\n
Kemas Yahya Rahman, spokesman for the Attorney General's
\nOffice (AGO), said the Attorney General's Office could not send
\nBeddu to jail until it received a copy of the Supreme Court
\ndecision upholding the two year sentence handed down to Beddu for
\nhis role in a land swap scam in 2001.<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Prosecutor's Office's deputy chief for special
\ncrimes, Marwan Effendi, said that his office had been informed by
\nthe South Jakarta District Court via facsimile regarding the
\nSupreme Court's verdict.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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