Todung's office burglarized, documents missing<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Prominent lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis's office in
\nWisma Bank Dharmala on Jl. Sudirman, South Jakarta, was burgled
\nbefore dawn on Monday.<\/p>\n
Todung, who is defending Time weekly in a libel dispute with
\nthe Soehartos and, among others, is an executive of a general
\nelection monitoring body and the Indonesian Corruption Watch
\n(ICW), said that several documents and US$2,000 and Rp 2 million
\n($225) were missing from his desk.<\/p>\n
"I don't care about the money, but my only concern is my
\ndocuments," said Todung, a senior lawyer at the Lubis, Maulana
\nand Santosa law firm which occupies 13 rooms on the fifth floor
\nof the 20-story building.<\/p>\n
Police are still in the dark about the burglary that allegedly
\ntook place between 1:30 a.m. and 3:30 a.m. at the building, which
\nis tightly secured.<\/p>\n
The exact number of culprits is unknown. Three other rooms,
\nbelonging to Todung's other partners -- Leilana Santosa and
\nMaulana, as well as the company's cashier -- were left in
\ndisarray.<\/p>\n
Items missing from the three other rooms were not yet
\ndisclosed.<\/p>\n
According to Todung, who was informed of the burglary at 10:30
\na.m., the culprits were apparently searching for specific
\ndocuments as all documents available in the office were sifted
\nthrough.<\/p>\n
"I'm sure that they're 'high class' burglars, who don't like
\nmy work at Unfrel (the University Forum for Free and Fair
\nElections), ICW, Panwaslu (the national Supervisory Elections
\nCommittee) and as the lawyer of Time magazine," he told reporters
\nat the office, which was still being examined by police forensic
\nexperts.<\/p>\n
At the moment, Todung is the national coordinator for Unfrel,
\na deputy chairman of Panwaslu and a deputy chairman of the ICW
\nEthical Board.<\/p>\n
He is also a lawyer for prominent businessmen such as Sofyan
\nWanandi and Arifin Panigoro and political scientist Jeffrey
\nWinters.<\/p>\n
"I suspect that there must be something behind this burglary,"
\nhe said.<\/p>\n
"And I'm really sad about it," he said, adding that he had
\npreviously received a series of threats from unidentified people.<\/p>\n
Todung told the media that he was unable to reveal details of
\nthe stolen documents, saying that he still had to check them
\nfirst.<\/p>\n
"A diskette containing data about the dispute between Time and
\nformer president Soeharto was not taken (by the burglars),
\nalthough it just laid on my table," he said.<\/p>\n
The diskette has a label with the word "Time" written in black
\nink on it.<\/p>\n
"They could have indeed stolen other valuable things in my
\nroom, for example paintings of popular artists Nyoman Gunarsa and
\nRusli.<\/p>\n
"But, they did not do it," he said.<\/p>\n
The lawyer said that the burglary at his office was therefore
\npolitically inclined, instead of merely a criminal case.<\/p>\n
"It's a kind of intimidation to suppress my efforts in
\nenforcing the law.<\/p>\n
"However, I've reached a point of no return in my struggle to
\nuphold the law here. I will not retreat," Todung asserted.<\/p>\n
He said he was visiting a polling station in Pademangan
\ndistrict in North Jakarta to oversee the voting process on Monday
\nmorning when his wife called to inform him of the burglary.<\/p>\n
Sections of the ceiling above the rooms of Leliana's office,
\nthe front desk, his office and the finance division had been
\nremoved.<\/p>\n
He therefore speculated that the culprits got into the office
\nthrough the ceiling.<\/p>\n
According to Agus Nusi, one of the on-duty security guards at
\nthe building, he first examined the office at about 1:30 a.m. but
\nfound nothing suspicious until he passed again at the site two
\nhours later.<\/p>\n
"I found pieces of the ceiling tiles on the floor," Nusi said.<\/p>\n
His chief, J. Sagala, said that upon receiving the report, he
\nhastily ordered four personnel to temporarily safeguard the
\noffice before reporting the case to the police.<\/p>\n
Sagala insisted that the only entrance to the building was the
\none in the lobby. Anyone who entered the building would have been
\nseen by one of the 14 security personnel on duty at that time, he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
"The burglars were believed to have already been inside the
\nbuilding before damaging the ceiling tile located at the entrance
\nof the office," he said.<\/p>\n
But Sagala admitted all of the building's circuit televisions
\ncould only monitor the view but not make a recording.<\/p>\n
"We asked for service two weeks ago but it has never been
\ndone," he said.<\/p>\n
City police chief Maj. Gen. Noegroho Djajoesman said police
\nwere still building the case and would not draw any immediate
\nconclusions.<\/p>\n
Even if the suspected burglars would be apprehended later, the
\npolice would first "charge them with a criminal violation of
\nbreaking and entering and theft of the belongings," Noegroho
\nsaid. (asa\/ylt\/emf)<\/p>",
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