Arms case defendant blames hotel staff

Arms case defendant blames hotel staff

JAKARTA (JP): Haryogi M. Maulani, a defendant in a case
involving alleged illegal firearms possession, testified before
the West Jakarta District Court on Monday that a staff of a West
Jakarta hotel sneaked into his room while he was asleep on the
evening of Feb. 15.

While he had yet to confirm the ownership of an AK-47 rifle
and a handgun, Haryogi apparently tried to blame it on the staff.

"I fell asleep on the sofa and neither heard nor saw anyone
entering my room. They were not invited," he told a hearing,
presided over by judge Sri Handojo.

Haryogi, a son of former State Intelligence Coordinating Body
(Bakin) chief Lt. Gen. (ret) Zaini Azhar Maulani, also rejected
testimony from witness Dadang Setyohadi -- hotel staff -- that he
had a gun magazine in the room.

Earlier, Dadang testified that he received orders from staff
to tidy up the room.

"The guest at the room had reportedly intended to check out.
So I went to the room," said Dadang, a housekeeping supervisor at
the hotel.

Dadang denied that he entered the room without Haryogi's
permission.

He said that he saw an unloaded AK-47 rifle on the floor.

"I picked it up and placed it on top of the fridge. At that
time, I saw pak Haryogi taking a magazine from the rifle out of a
big bag," he said.

As he completed his task, Dadang said he rushed to report his
findings to Roy Kurniawan, a deputy security chief at the hotel
around 11:45 p.m.

Haryogi rejected Dadang's statement that he opened the door
for Dadang and took the magazine of the rifle out of his bag.

"I was asleep at that time, therefore I never saw the witness
and never opened the room's door for him," he said.

"I also never brought the magazine to the hotel."

Another witness, Roy Kurniawan, said he reported the incident
at Tamansari Police Precinct after receiving the information from
Dadang.

"Three people, led by First. Lt. Samuel Tobing came to the
hotel around 12.30 a.m. on Feb. 16, and began to search the
defendant," he said.

Roy said the defendant had left his room as the police and the
hotel's security staff began searching it.

"Several minutes later, we arrested him in the hotel lobby,
finding a loaded 7.65-caliber Colt Walther handgun which was
strapped to the defendant's left leg," he said.

Roy said the AK-47 rifle was finally found at the hotel's park
after receiving information from a parking attendant.

In the previous hearing, three witnesses, including two police
officers, gave testimonies which implicated the defendant.

"The defendant admitted that he was the owner of the firearms
during the police raid in a hotel in West Jakarta last February,"
said First. Lt. Samuel Tobing, chief of police detectives at the
Taman Sari police subprecinct in West Jakarta.

Samuel said the 37-year-old defendant once tried to convince
the police officers that he possessed the firearms legally.

"The defendant said he was a Bakin member, showing us the copy
of a license stipulating that he possessed the firearms legally,"
he said.

Samuel said the police then urged him to show them his
official identity with the corps.

"He later admitted that he was not a member," he said.

Judge Sri Handojo adjourned the hearing until next week to
hear testimonies from other witnesses.

Last Monday, witnesses testified that Haryogi was the owner of
the firearms.

Three witnesses, including two police officers, told a hearing
at the same court in support of the prosecutor's accusation that
Haryogi owned the loaded Colt Walther handgun and the AK-47
rifle.

"The defendant admitted during a police raid in a hotel in
West Jakarta last February that the firearms were his," chief of
detectives of West Jakarta's Taman Sari Police First Lt. Samuel
Tobing said. (asa)