Police reassert stance on Newmont<\/p>\n
Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
National Police investigators have no immediate plan to release
\nfive PT Newmont Minahasa Raya executives, saying their detention
\nwas needed in order to complete the case files of the suspects as
\nsoon as possible.<\/p>\n
\"The investigators have the competence to decide whether to
\ndetain or release suspects. We are speeding up the investigation
\nso as to finish the case files in the near future,\" National
\nPolice spokesman Insp. Gen. Paiman announced publicly on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
He was responding to a statement from United States Ambassador
\nto Indonesia Ralph L. Boyce, who has said the detention of the
\nAmerican mining company's employees, one of which is a U.S.
\ncitizen, was inappropriate.<\/p>\n
Boyce met President Megawati Soekarnoputri on Monday to
\ndiscuss the issue and later in the day visited the Newmont
\nexecutives. The envoy, however, emphasized that Washington did
\nnot intend to interfere in the legal process.<\/p>\n
Police have named the five detainees, along with the company's
\npresident Richard Ness, suspects for their roles in the alleged
\npollution of Buyat Bay in North Sulawesi. The firm is accused of
\ndumping toxic waste into the bay, a claim Newmont has
\nconsistently denied and backed up with tests conducted by a
\nnumber of institutions.<\/p>\n
Paiman said the ambassador's visit would not affect the police
\ninvestigation into the case.<\/p>\n
Police have arranged a third questioning of Ness on Thursday,
\nbut Paiman said the investigators so far had no plan to detain
\nthe Newmont boss due to his heart problem.<\/p>\n
According to the Criminal Law Procedures Code, the police may
\ndetain a suspect without charges for up to 20 days if the police
\nthink the suspect is not being cooperative, can destroy evidence
\nand\/or is a flight risk.<\/p>\n
Police have said it was easier for them to question the
\nsuspects if they were all detained as they would not have to
\nformally summon them each time they needed to question them.<\/p>\n
A source at the headquarters said police locked the suspects
\nup for fear they would destroy evidence.<\/p>\n
Also on Tuesday, a group of lawyers grouped under the Lawyer's
\nTeam for Burdened People (TAPBR) held a rally at the police
\nstation to protest Boyce's visit with Megawati and the police.<\/p>\n
They accused Boyce of trying to intervene with the
\ninvestigation process and Indonesia's legal system.<\/p>\n
\"The visit is a clear case of intimidation by a superpower
\nagainst a poor country,\" said Hotman Paris Hutapea, the group's
\nspokesperson.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/police-reassert-stance-on-newmont-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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