Ex-police chief to face trial in Papua

Nethy Dharma Somba, The Jakarta Post, Jayapura

Former Sorong Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Faisal AN and five of his subordinates are expected to face trial in the near future for their alleged involvement in illegal logging in Papua province.

The Papua Prosecutor's Office said on Tuesday the case files on the six that it had received from the National Police were complete. The police had since been asked to hand over the suspects to the prosecutors so that they could be brought to court.

The police, however, have not detained the six suspects, including Faisal, who is currently serving as a detective in National Police Headquarters in Jakarta.

Apart from Faisal, the other five suspects are his former deputy, I Putu Mahasena, former Sorong Police chief of detectives Taswin and three of his former subordinates, Anshar Johar, Aceng Danda and Widodo.

Papua Police chief Brig. Gen. Dodi Sumantyawan said he was notified that the dossiers on Faisal and the other suspects were complete and that a trial was in the offing.

"We are waiting for the transfer of the suspects and evidence against them from National Police Headquarters," he said.

Faisal AN and his former subordinates were charged with violating Article 263 of the Criminal Code on document forgery in connection with illegal logging. The charge carries a maximum penalty of six years in jail.

They could face an additional six months' imprisonment as they have also been charged with Article 221 of the Criminal Code on the destruction of evidence.

The case surfaced after a Panama-flagged vessel, the MV Africa, laden with 12,000 cubic meters of illegal logs was arrested by water police off Sorong on Jan. 15, 2002.

The ship was then handed over to the Sorong Police, which should have brought legal proceedings against the vessel and its owners. However, the ship and the illegal logs, which had been declared evidence, later disappeared for unknown reasons.

But Faisal, who was then the Sorong Police chief, reported to Papua Police Headquarters that the case had been dealt with in accordance with the law. However, the evidence he presented to the Papua Police was not the illegal logs seized from the ship but rather others confiscated from businessman Felix Welianto.

Felix had been detained by the Sorong police but was later freed after prosecutors found that the logs presented to them as evidence were not those seized from the MV Africa.