I'm not scared, President says over Suwondo's arrest

I'm not scared, President says over Suwondo's arrest

JAKARTA (JP): President Abdurrahman Wahid said on Monday that
the arrest of his masseur, Alip Agung Suwondo, a suspect in the
multi-billion rupiah State Logistics Agency (Bulog) scandal, left
him with no fear at all.

"It's none of my business. Whether there's evidence or not,
let the law take its course. I'm not scared," Abdurrahman told
journalists at his office.

The scandal, initially disclosed by the media in May, revolves
around the disbursement of Rp 35 billion (US$4,2 million) from
Bulog's employee-owned Yanatera foundation last January,
allegedly at the behest of Abdurrahman.

Separately, Suwondo, who was arrested on Saturday after
spending months in hiding, insisted on Monday that he received
the funds simply as a loan from the agency's employee foundation,
Yanatera.

The masseur, spotted by police at one of his villas in the
mountainous resort of Puncak also asserted that Gus Dur, as the
President is popularly known, played no role at all in the case.

"He (Suwondo) said he never used Gus Dur's name (to get the
money)," Suwondo's family lawyer, Denny Azani B. Latief, told
reporters after a visit to his client at the Jakarta Police
Headquarters.

Denny further quoted his client as saying that he had taken
the money from Yanatera simply as a loan.

Based on the deal signed by both his client and Bulog's deputy
chairman Sapuan, Suwondo had indeed paid the loan's interest to
the foundation.

"Suwondo had no idea that the matter (his loan to Yanatera)
would develop this far. He became terrified and disappeared to
find out what was going on," Denny said.

Together with Gus Dur, Suwondo is a founder of the Awair
airline company.

Sapuan is already on trial in connection with the scam.

Head of the South Jakarta Prosecutors' Office Antasari Azhar
said on Monday that the prosecutors planned to present Suwondo at
the trial of Sapuan to stand as a witness.

"If we find any obstacles in verifying the evidence related to
the case, then we'll ask the South Jakarta District Court to hear
Suwondo as a witness," he told journalists at his office.

Antasari refused to reveal more details and merely said:
"Let's see tomorrow".

The district court planned to hold a hearing on Sapuan's case
on Tuesday in which former Bulog chief Rahardi Ramelan is to give
his testimony.

In the initial hearing of the trial, Sapua claimed that
Suwondo had acted on the President's behalf, after Gus Dur held a
meeting with Sapuan to request that Bulog participate in a
humanitarian program for the strife-torn province of Aceh.

Suwondo reportedly kept Rp 10 billion for himself, and
distributed another Rp 5 billion to businesswoman Siti Farika,
who has family links with the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) Muslim
organization, once chaired by Gus Dur.

Another Rp 15 billion went to a bank account of Suko Sudarso,
an official of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI
Perjuangan), and Rp 5 billion went to Leo Purnomo, a staff member
at Awair.

So far, only Rp 16.5 billion has been returned to Yanatera
including the funds returned by Suwondo's wife Teti Nursetiati
and Farika.

Teti on Monday got permission from the police to visit her
husband at the police detention center. Shortly after his arrest,
police officers insisted that Suwondo had asked the police not to
allow anyone to see him since he was still confused.

Police also said that they had yet to question Suwondo since
the 43 year old man was showing signs of a depression-related
neurosis.

On Monday, a team of doctors from the National Police
Headquarters assigned to check on Suwondo's health concluded that
the patient was physically and mentally fit.

"He could answer our questions well and wasn't showing any
signs of stress," said Sr. Supt. Budiarto, one of the senior
police doctors.

A day earlier, National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Saleh Saaf
said Suwondo had been saying strange things including that he had
traveled hundreds of kilometers on foot from Bogor to the
Southern Java Sea, and then to Parangtritis beach near
Yogyakarta. According to police reports, Suwondo said he had
found a huge cave at the beach where he meditated for three days,
surviving on food left by the cave's visitors. (byg/jaw/07/bby)