Adiguna's file being reviewed

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.