All stolen paintings have been retrieved

JAKARTA (JP): The National Police, in cooperation with Singapore Police, have seized three stolen paintings from a Singaporean collector, police spokesman Brig. Gen. Nurfaizi said.

Nurfaizi said the three paintings, stolen from the National Museum, were Berganti Rupa by Basoeki Abdullah, Mbah Iro Sentono by Trubus Sudarsono and Jaqueline en Robe de Taffetas by Albert Andree.

Nurfaizi said the paintings were seized from the collector, Michael Lee, on Nov. 24, the Kompas daily reported yesterday.

This means police have recovered all of the 25 paintings reported missing from the Museum in September.

Police got help from Michael's lawyer of Ong Tay & Partner law firm, Nurfaizi said.

Nurfaizi said police had submitted five paintings to the Museum.

These are A Nude by Basoeki Abdullah, Parang Tritis, Kawah Tangkuban Perahu, Potret Diri dan Topeng (Self Portrait and Masks) by Affandi, and Governor van den Bosch by Raden Sarief Bustaman Saleh.

The paintings have been returned to the Museum by Michael, who had consigned the paintings to Christie's Oct. 6 Southeast Asian painting auction in Singapore.

Christie's Singapore withdrew the paintings immediately after news reports from Jakarta on the paintings stolen from the National Museum.

Nurfaizi said the police seized the remaining 17 paintings from Michael's rented house in South Jakarta.

The 17 paintings include Alerte Arienne (Charles Walch), Model Ny Beni Suherman (Basoeki Abdullah), and Hutan (I. Kinigan).

Others were La Maison on Briques (Yves Faucher), Village Provencal (Raymond Moisset), Untitled (Paul Collomb), Woman (Renoir) and Vase et Mandoline (Fernand Leger).

The rest were Montmartre and Rue a Pontoise (Maurice Utrillo), La Partie de Campagne (H. de Toulouse), Vue sur l'Esque(Cezanne), Les Adieux (Picasso), two paintings of Fish Women (Patricia) Gedung Rijk Museum (anonymous) and Seorang Wanita (anonymous).

Police have arrested four museum employees, identified as Bambang Widoyono, Komari, Supadi and Syahril, for allegedly stealing the paintings, Nurfaizi said.

He said the suspects met the collector in March through a man who was a former museum employee, identified as Ar is still at large," Nurfaizi said. (jun)