Ex-BIN chief to be grilled in Munir probe

Ex-BIN chief to be grilled in Munir probe

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government-sanctioned fact finding team (TPF), which has a
mandate to assist the police during the investigation into the
killing of rights champion Munir, plans to question the former
spy chief to determine if he had any role in the poisoning.

Former head of the National Intelligence Agency (BIN) A.M.
Hendropriyono, who was replaced just weeks after Munir's death
aboard a Garuda Air flight to Holland, will be questioned within
two weeks.

One TPF member, Rachland Nashiddik, of rights watchdog
Imparsial said on Thursday that Hendropriyono would be grilled
about the alleged involvement of BIN personnel in what most
pundits believe was a case of pre-meditated murder of the
outspoken government critic last September.

Rachland said former deputy BIN chief Maj. Gen. (ret) Muchdi
PR and BIN official Col. (ret) Bambang Irawan would also be
questioned soon.

The series of questioning, Rachland insisted, was necessary
after the team and the police investigators "found a connection
between those three men and (top suspect) Pollycarpus."

Rachland was referring to Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto, a
Garuda pilot/security officer who has been named a suspect in the
case. He reportedly persuaded Munir to change seats to business
class on the Garuda flight from Jakarta to Amsterdam via
Singapore.

Munir died two hours before landing in Amsterdam. The Dutch
authorities found nearly five times the lethal dose of arsenic in
Munir's body.

"We have prepared the summonses for Hendropriyono, Muchdi and
Bambang. As we've recently learned that Hendropriyono is
currently living in the United States, we will ask the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs for his address," Rachland said.

Following the questioning of former BIN secretary-general
Nurhadi Djazuli last week, the team came to the conclusion that
Munir's death was a result of an intelligence operation, which
allegedly involved selected BIN agents, added Rachland.

"But we don't think the murder was part of BIN policy. It was
possibly the work of certain men in the institution," Rachland
said.

Hendropriyono and Muchdi were still active in BIN when Munir
died.

The team became very interested in Bambang after Pollycarpus
told them that the BIN official was also seated in business class
on the same flight that he and Munir were on.

A source said Bambang made a stop in Singapore. The source
also said Pollycarpus first met Bambang when they took a shooting
course organized by the Indonesian Target Shooting and Hunting
Association (Perbakin). The two were also seen in Aceh days after
the government imposed martial law in the province in May 2003.

The TPF members also discovered, some weeks ago, that
Pollycarpus made dozens of telephone calls, shortly before and
after the death of Munir, to Muchdi and Hendropriyono.

"Of course, we have no right to intercept their conversation,
but the police do," another team member Usman Hamid of the
National Commission of Missing Persons and Victims of the
Violence (Kontras) said.

The team also found that Bambang is a medical doctor who
served with the Army's Special Forces (Kopassus). He was moved to
the Army's health directorate rose to the rank of captain. In the
1990s, he was hired by BIN. His military record also reveals that
Bambang is familiar with chemical materials.

Police have also named flight attendants Yeti Susmiyarti and
Oedi Irianto suspects in the case, who are thought to have served
arsenic-laced food or drink to Munir on the Jakarta-Singapore
leg.