Evidence scarce in investigation into Munir's murder, say police
Evidence scarce in investigation into Munir's murder, say police
Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
A lack of hard evidence remains a major obstacle in the
investigation into the death of rights activist Munir, despite
irregularities found in several documents that could possibly
link Garuda airline to the case, police said.
Director of Transnational Crime at National Police
Headquarters, Brig. Gen. Pranowo, said on Friday police were
looking into the possibility that Garuda employees were involved
in the case because of irregularities found in Garuda documents
collected by investigators.
"Of course I suspect Garuda employees have something to do
with the case when we look at the documents. Unfortunately, we
don't have enough material yet to support our suspicions,"
Pranowo said.
He was responding to the government-sanctioned fact-finding
team, which said Munir's death by arsenic poisoning could involve
a conspiracy involving the national flag carrier.
The rights campaigner died aboard a Garuda plane two hours
before it landed in Amsterdam. Dutch authorities performed an
autopsy and found an excessive amount of arsenic in Munir's body.
The fact-finding team said two employees and a director of
Garuda could be linked to the case. The team said a Garuda
director issued a letter to cover up irregularities related to
Munir's death.
After an investigation, police found that Garuda assigned a
pilot, identified as Pollycarpus, to take the flight that took
Munir to Singapore on Sept. 7 as an aviation security officer.
However, police found Pollycarpus' assignment letter was issued
only on Sept. 17 and was typed and signed on a Saturday, when
administration offices are normally closed.
Garuda president director Indra Setiawan said he assigned
Pollycarpus to travel to Singapore to assist another Garuda unit
there. The assignment letter was signed by Garuda's corporate
secretary, Ramalgia Anwar, not the operational director, who is
the supervisor for all Garuda pilots.
Pranowo said the documents were only clues and not evidence
that could support charges against a suspect.
Separately, a source at National Police Headquarters said
another Garuda employee could be named a suspect for lying to the
office about the existence of Pollycarpus' assignment letter.
She told the police the letter was on her desk before Munir's
flight left Jakarta. She later changed her account, saying she
had not received the letter before the flight left.
The source claimed someone had asked the woman to lie about
the letter to hamper the police investigation.