Adiguna's file being reviewed
Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
The prosecutors are still looking over the case file of businessman Adiguna Sutowo, the sole suspect in the fatal shooting of a server at a Hilton Hotel bar on Jan. 1.
Prosecutor Andi Herman said on Wednesday that his team would need "a few more days" to examine the case file, which was resubmitted by the police on Tuesday after being returned once to correct some errors made by the police.
"If we have no more questions about the case, I think we can declare it complete this week. We have no reason to delay the preparations for a case against the suspect, and we should be able to bring it to trial," Andi told The Jakarta Post.
The Jakarta prosecutor's office returned last week the case file of Adiguna, who eyewitnesses say killed Yohannes Berchmans Haerudy Natong, an employee at the Fluid Bar at the Jakarta Hilton International Hotel, where the suspect and his friends were ringing in the new year.
The prosecutors found that the eyewitnesses stated that the victim was shot from less than one meter away, but that did not match the results of forensic tests which indicated that he was shot from a slightly farther distance, as there was no gun residue on the victim's body.
The prosecutors asked police to submit several other expert statements to settle the contradiction, in addition to providing information on the legal status of the gun and a court document on the confiscation of the evidence.
City Police Chief Insp. Gen. Firman Gani said the officers had fulfilled all of the prosecutors' requirements.
"We have completed what we lacked the first time," he said.
Adiguna, who is currently being held at police headquarters, is the son of tycoon Ibnu Sutowo, the former president of state oil and gas company Pertamina. His elder brother, Ponco Sutowo is a major stakeholder in the Jakarta Hilton.
He has been charged with Article 338 of the Criminal Code on murder, which carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison, plus Article 1 of Emergency Law No. 12/1951 on illegal possession of firearms, which carries a maximum sentence of death by firing squad.
So far, the police have based their case mainly on eyewitness statements and some forensic tests, because they were not able to find the suspect's fingerprints on the gun, which was returned later by a friend. They did however, find 19 rounds of ammunition in Adiguna's room that matched the gun and the bullet that killed Yohannes.
Responding to people's concerns about Adiguna escaping justice due to his powerful connections, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono even got involved and asked the police to investigate the case thoroughly.
The police on Wednesday decided to stop their investigation of two key witnesses; A friend of Adiguna's, identified only as "Wwn", who returned the gun to the police, and Novia "Tinul" Herdiana, one of his companions on the night in question, who initially denied being with Adiguna when the shooting took place.
"We are not going to declare 'Wwn' a suspect because he did the right thing by submitting the gun to us on his own initiative. It would not be fair if we charged him. We will also consider stopping the investigation of Tinul," Firman said.