Elize's lawyer, police give conflicting accounts

JAKARTA (JP): A lawyer of bomb-carrying suspect Elize Maria Tuwahatu said on Thursday that his client had retracted her statement that she had received the bombs from fugitive Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, but city police are insisting that she did no such thing.

"Elize's lawyer M. Bugis can say what he likes, but Elize has never retracted her statements. She is sticking to her earlier statement that Tommy gave her the bombs," Jakarta Police chief of detectives Sr. Comr. Harry Montolalu announced.

Elize was arrested for possession of the bombs at Taman Mini Indonesia Indah last Friday.

"Elize has signed the police dossiers on her ... the police finished questioning her on Wednesday. Her dossiers will soon be forwarded to state prosecutors."

National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Saleh Saaf earlier said that the police had solid evidence that Elize's Timor sedan was given to her by Tommy and that she had received biannual payments of Rp 150 million each year since 1997, from Tommy.

Earlier on Thursday, Elize's lawyer M. Bugis claimed that Elize was under a great deal of stress since her arrest, and was in total shock when she was questioned immediately after her arrest last Friday.

"While in shock she said lots of things ... now she denies that Tommy gave her the bombs. She was close to Tommy, but stopped meeting him after 1985. She's actually still stressed," he said.

This too was denied by Harry, who said that doctors from the city police medical center had examined Elize and declared her mentally and physically fit.

M. Bugis is a lawyer for the Republic Party, which is reportedly funded by the family of former president Soeharto, and in which Elize formerly served as a treasurer.

Since Elize's arrest, police have barred reporters from seeing her or her mother, Sonya Tuwahatu, another suspect in the case.

Unlike suspects of general crimes, where police officers allow reporters to freely interview suspects, bomb suspects are guarded around-the-clock and are hardly ever allowed to see outside the cell of a police detention center.

When bomb suspects are questioned by the police, the interrogation room is secured by at least two officers sitting outside the room.

Bunker

Separately, Harry said that police had already sent out a second summons to Tommy's wife, Ardhia Pramesti "Tata" Regita Cahyani, who is scheduled to be questioned on Friday for her alleged role in obstructing police from locating an underground bunker beneath the Central Jakarta residence of Tommy.

Tata was reportedly still in Singapore when she was summoned for questioning on Monday.

"We'll wait for Tata tomorrow ... if she doesn't show up, we'll apprehend her, wherever she is," Harry said.

The police on Monday questioned Tata's lawyer Juan Felix Tampubolon on the same charges but he refused to answer the questions, reasoning that his case was about professional ethics, not crime. (ylt)