Court seizes Goenawan's home over libel

Court seizes Goenawan's home over libel

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The East Jakarta District Court has given an order to confiscate
the residence of Tempo weekly's co-founder Goenawan Mohamad as
collateral in a libel suit filed by businessman Tomy Winata.

A panel of judges consisting of Mabruq Nur, Surya Darma Belo
and Rustam Idris signed the court order on Sept. 25.

Besides Goenawan's house on Jl. Tanah Mas IIB No. 19, Kayu
Putih subdistrict, Pulo Mas, East Jakarta, the judges also
approved Tomy's demand to confiscate the office building of Koran
Tempo daily on Jl. Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta.

Under the Indonesian legal system, it is common for the
plaintiff in a civil lawsuit to request that the defendant's
property be confiscated as collateral.

Such confiscation requires a legal agreement made earlier
between the plaintiff and the defendant, as well as ownership
documents for the property or, if the property is a plot of land,
the plaintiff can present a letter issued by the National Land
Agency (BPN) declaring the owner of the land.

A court can only give an order to confiscate property if the
property falls within the court's jurisdiction; a court can also
delegate the confiscation order to another court that has
jurisdiction over the property.

Tomy filed a civil suit against Goenawan for defamation over
the latter's statement printed on Feb. 6 in Koran Tempo daily, in
an article titled Don't let the country fall into the hand of
thugs/TW.

The court bailiffs arrived at 11 a.m. at the house, where the
media had been waiting. They did not answer questions as to
whether they had received the required documents from Tempo
senior editor Fikri Jufri and former attorney general Marsillam
Simandjuntak, who were also at the site.

The house was vacant, as Goenawan was in Surabaya to attend a
wedding party. Bubun, who introduced himself as a staff at the
house, received the court order, which stated that Goenawan was
still allowed to reside at that address, but was prohibited from
handing over the property to another party.

The same day, the Central Jakarta District Court heard the
defense's testimony given by Tempo chief editor Bambang Harymurti
and journalists Iskandar Ali and Ahmad Taufik, who have been
charged with defamation, also against Tomy Winata, in an article
published in March.

'Fake documents' found in Tempo case

The defense team representing Tempo weekly filed a complaint on
Monday with National Police Headquarters over the use of
allegedly fraudulent documents as evidence by Jakarta Police
investigators in a libel suit filed by businessman Tomy Winata
against the weekly's journalists.

"We are reporting fraudulence in the dossiers of Bambang
Harymurti, and of Ahmad Taufik and T. Iskandar Ali," said lawyer
Trimoelja D. Soerjadi, referring to the magazine's chief editor
and two journalists.

Trimoelja said his team had found blatant irregularities in
the dates of those documents.

The documents concern the receipt from Tomy of Tempo's March
3-9 edition, which ran the article Ada Tomy di 'Tenabang'?, and a
letter from Governor Sutiyoso, which says that Tomy never
submitted a proposal to renovate Tanah Abang market. The magazine
copy and the letter were to be used as evidence.

The receipt was issued by Adj. Comr. Ponadi on March 11, while
the warrant to "seize" the evidence and to open an investigation
on the case was issued on March 12 by Jakarta Police detective
Adj. Sr. Comr. Tito Karnavian; Sutiyoso's letter was dated March
13.

"This is simply impossible. The logic is, the execution
follows the order. But, we can see that the execution had taken
place even before the order to confiscate the evidence was made,"
said Trimoelja.

The lawyer was accompanied by defense team leader Todung Mulya
Lubis and Bambang Harymurti.

Trimoelja urged police to investigate the alleged fraud, which
might implicate police investigators connected to the case.

Police officers at Jakarta Police Headquarters were available
for comment, including Tito. -- JP

Legal battle between Tomy Winata and Tempo

Civil lawsuits
1. Libel suit against Tempo publishing company PT Tempo Inti Media,
company director Zulkifli Lubis, company general manager Fikri Jufri,
Tempo chief editor Bambang Harymurti, deputy chief editor Toriq Hadad,
journalists Ahmad Taufik, Bernarda Rurit and Cahyo Junaedy.
Venue: Central Jakarta District Court
Legal representation: Otto Cornelis Kaligis
Demand: Compensation of Rp 200 billion (US$23.5 million) for potential
loss caused by the Ada Tomy di 'Tenabang'? article.

2. Libel suit against PT Tempo Inti Media and Ahmad Taufik
Venue: Central Jakarta District Court
Legal representation: Klinik Bantuan Hukum 24 Jam
Demand: Compensation of Rp 120 billion for Ahmad Taufik's Chronology
of the attack of Tomy Winata on Tempo, spread via the Internet.

3. Libel suit against Tempo patron Goenawan Mohamad and PT Tempo Inti
Media
Venue: East Jakarta District Court
Legal representation: Erman Umar & Associates
Demand: Compensation of Rp 21 billion for Goenawan's remark on March
11 after a meeting with National Police Chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar,
reminding the people not to let the country fall into the hands of
thugs, such as Tomy Winata.

4. Libel suit against Koran Tempo daily chief editor Bambang
Harymurti, journalist Dedy Kurniawan and publishing company PT Tempo
Inti Media Harian
Venue: South Jakarta District Court
Legal representation: Hamdan, Sudjana & Partners
Demand: Compensation of Rp 21 billion for article titled (Southeast
Sulawesi) Governor Ali Mazi Denies Tomy Winata To Open Gambling Den on
Feb. 6.

Criminal case
Libel suit at Central Jakarta District Court against Bambang
Harymurti, Iskandar Ali and Ahmad Taufik, with the prosecution
accusing the three of violating Articles 14(1) and 14(2) of the 1946
Criminal Code on deliberately publishing a news report to provoke
unrest. The charges carry maximum sentences of 10 years and three
years in jail, respectively.

Source: The Jakarta Post