Complainant protests halt of Coke probe
Urip Hudiono, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Jakarta Police have decided to drop the investigation into the complaint filed by Japanese Takasu Masaharu against Coca Cola due to lack of evidence.
Masaharu, however, has opposed the decision. He sent a letter to the National Police through his lawyer on Tuesday, asking for legal certainty, as they had found irregularities in the decision.
"We request the National Police to examine the officers handling the case and proceed with the investigation," lawyer Ike Farida told the press on Wednesday.
A lawyer of Coca Cola, Panji Prasetyo, said he did not know about the police's decision but added that it was certainly in his clients' favor.
"I think such a decision is natural because there are so many things that would make the investigation impossible to proceed with anyway," he said.
He also added that the defense team was ready to deliver their response on Thursday to the South Jakarta District Court's decision to proceed with the civil hearing.
Ike said Masaharu had bought a bottle of Coca Cola from Junaedi, a bottled drink vendor in Bintaro, South Jakarta, on Oct. 19, 2003. After drinking almost half the contents, he felt a burning sensation in his throat and chest, followed by a queasy feeling. Later, he found a piece of mosquito coil at the bottom of the bottle.
Masaharu immediately went to the nearest hospital for treatment and filed a complaint with Pesanggrahan Police, who then kept the bottle with the remaining contents as evidence.
An analysis conducted by the National Police forensics laboratory in February concluded that the drink contained pesticide.
Masaharu filed a civil suit in April against PT Coca-Cola Indonesia, PT Coca-Cola Bottling Indonesia, PT Coca-Cola Distribution Indonesia, the Food and Drug Monitoring Agency and Junaedi. He has demanded a public apology and a total of more than US$7 million in compensation from the company for violating the Consumer Protection Law.
The South Jakarta District Court has decided that it will proceed with the civil hearing, while Masaharu's lawyers asked the Jakarta Police to take over the criminal investigation from the Pesanggrahan Police as it concerned the interests of the wider public.
However, in a letter dated Aug. 23, the Jakarta Police decided to return the dossiers to Pesanggrahan Police and suggested that the investigation into the complaint be dropped.
Ike said the Pesanggrahan Police had sent a bottle, which carries the expiry date of Dec. 11, 2004, along with the laboratory results to the Jakarta Police. But the latter got information from PT Coca Cola Bottling that the particular bottle could not have been in distribution during the time of the incident.
"It is strange that the police would simply believe the information. We were sure the bottle was the one that our client had drank from as stated in witness testimonies and the fact that we also monitored its analysis at the forensics lab," Ike said.
Pesanggrahan Police later sent another bottle with an expiry date of July 3, 2003 -- which would obviously have been past the expiry date at the time of the incident -- to the Jakarta Police.
As the laboratory results did not clearly state which bottle's contents it referred to, the Jakarta Police then concluded that the evidence was obscure and that the investigation should be terminated.