Five detained in controversial abduction case

Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Jakarta Police said on Sunday they were detaining five suspects in connection with a bizarre, grisly case of alleged abduction and torture reported by businessman Setiadjie Munawar on April 11.

Spokesman Sr. Comr. Tjiptono said on Sunday police were interrogating the suspects and several witnesses to obtain more evidence so they could complete their case file for prosecutors. Currently there were several different versions of how events had unfolded, he said.

The five detained suspects are law firm Arsyad & Associates managing partner Trijono Arsyad and his wife, Lisa Lukitawati; PT Marketlinkindo Persada director Dewi Retno Ningsih; PT Buana Samudra Jaya president director Trisna Wijaya; and a retired soldier, Anas Azis.

PT Marketlinkindo Persada and PT Buana Samudra Jaya are both subsidiaries of PT Mecomb Teknik, which is owned by retired two- star Navy general Koento Wibisono, the father of Dewi Retno Ningsih.

In his police report Setiadjie said he was kidnapped on April 1 and taken to the Cilandak Commercial Estate in South Jakarta where he was tortured and then released a day later. Police said Setiadjie had told them his abductors had beaten him around the head and he had holes drilled through the palms of his hands.

Based on those charges, police arrested Trijono and Lisa on April 12, and a few days later picked up the other suspects.

However, a representative of Lisa, Hilman K. Nurakhman, told The Jakarta Post on Sunday that he had evidence proving that Lisa, Trijono, and other suspects had neither abducted nor tortured Setiadjie on April 1 and April 2.

"Setiadjie came (to Mecomb's office in the Cilandak Commercial Estate) voluntarily to meet all of the people who wanted answers from him after empty promises were made, and to settle disputes with them. There were harsh words said but there were no instances of torture. What's more, how can a hole (drilled) through a palm be cured in a few days?" Hilman told the Post.

When Setiadjie reported the case to police on April 11, police found only small dots on his hands, Hilman said.

Hilman said a videotape of the meeting, which had been handed over to police, showed that there was only debate during the meeting and Setiadjie's admission he owed money to the parties present.

Setiadjie, Hilman said, had earlier claimed to be a director at Medcomb Teknik. Later it turned out he had no position in the company, and he reportedly owed Mecomb Teknik about Rp 6 billion, Hilman said. He was also said to have debts of hundreds of millions to several other parties.

Hilman said there was no material evidence of Setiadjie's torture claims, which included the use of a drill and a chisel as well as finger prints on any equipment, to prove that the torture occurred.

"All the allegations were just made up by Setiadjie. There is also no evidence that Lisa and Trijono paid TNI personnel (to help them) as reported by several media outlets," he said.

Lisa's mother, Fia Saraswati Djajadiningrat, said she hoped police would release her daughter as there was no strong evidence showing she was involved in any criminal incident.

"At least she could be put under a house arrest as she has two little children to take care of," she told the Post.