Police admit negligence over Adrian's escape<\/p>\n
Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post\/Jakarta<\/p>\n
Police acknowledged on Friday sloppy police work that allowed
\nAdrian Waworuntu, one of the key suspects in the Rp 1.7 trillion
\n(US$185 million) Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) scandal, to evade
\narrest.<\/p>\n
National Police deputy chief of detectives Insp. Gen. Dadang
\nGarnida said the police internal affairs and intelligence
\ndivision would examine the case to find out who was responsible
\nfor Adrian's escape.<\/p>\n
"It is negligence not a coincidence. Probably, we were too
\nlenient with the suspect and his lawyer, or possibly there were
\ndeals made between Adrian and certain police officials. We are
\ngoing to look into that," said Dadang.<\/p>\n
His statement was the first official recognition that the
\npolice were at fault in Adrian's disappearance while many media
\nreports have speculated that police officials may have been
\nbribed by Adrian to enable him to evade arrest.<\/p>\n
Adrian's whereabouts is still unknown. Police had hinted
\nearlier that the suspect may have fled the country.<\/p>\n
Dadang said it was possible that National Police chief Gen.
\nDa'i Bachtiar would order internal affairs to investigate the
\ncase.<\/p>\n
Asked whether National Police director for economic crime
\nBrig. Gen. Samuel Ismoko, the most senior official responsible
\nfor the case, knew of Adrian's whereabouts, Dadang said that
\neverybody had to wait for the police chief to return from an
\ninternational seminar in Mexico.<\/p>\n
He added that the police were continuing to hunt down Adrian
\nacross the country, and would ask Interpol's assistance to
\napprehend the fugitive if they could not find Adrian inside the
\ncountry.<\/p>\n
"We also found out that the letter from the doctor was fake
\nwhile Adrian's lawyer deliberately gave the fake letter to us,"
\nsaid Dadang.<\/p>\n
Police named Adrian's lawyer Doni Antares Irawan as a suspect
\non Tuesday for harboring a fugitive and document forgery and they
\nsaid that questioning him would shed light on Adrian's
\nwhereabouts.<\/p>\n
They questioned Doni for eight hours on Thursday but didn't
\ndetain him as his lawyers guaranteed he would not abscond.<\/p>\n
Doni has repeatedly denied that he had submitted a fictitious
\nletter or knew of Adrian's whereabouts.<\/p>\n
Dadang said police would interrogate Adrian's doctor F.
\nWinerungan as a witness as soon as they finished questioning
\nDoni.<\/p>\n
He added that Adrian's doctor would also be named suspect if
\nDoni's interrogation revealed that he had submitted misleading
\ninformation in the letter for Adrian that allowed him a seven-day
\npostponement to comply with the summons.<\/p>\n
Last week, police declared Adrian a fugitive after he didn't
\nreport to police headquarter by the Oct. 1 deadline.<\/p>\n
The police must hand over Adrian to the prosecutor's office as
\nsoon as possible because Adrian's case file is ready for trial.<\/p>\n
Police said on Wednesday that Adrian might have fled the
\ncountry using a different name because the travel ban on him was
\nstill effective. The police gave no indication as to which
\ncountry he may have fled to.<\/p>\n
Several media reports have speculated that Adrian is in the
\nU.S. They said that it was possible that Adrian maintained his
\nreal name and bribed officials at the immigration office to allow
\nhim to leave the country.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/police-admit-negligence-over-adrians-escape-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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