Man files report of police torture

Man files report of police torture

JAKARTA (JP): A man yesterday complained to the city police
that a group of people, including a police officer whom he
identified as Lt. Col. Alfon, had kidnapped and tortured him.

The victim, entrepreneur Sulaiman Ramli alias Han, 52, said
that on May 12, 1995, at 11 p.m., around twenty people came to
his house.

"When I asked them what the problem was, they did not answer,
but hit and kicked me," he said, adding that they then dragged
him to a van where Alfon was waiting.

According to Han, the men continued to abuse him in the
parking lot of Satria Mandala military museum on Jl. Gatot
Subroto, South Jakarta.

He said that the men also threatened him not to report the
incident to the police. "If I report this case to the police,
they will kill my relatives one by one."

Han's lawyer, Bambang Hartono, told reporters that the
incident had been reported to the city police and it was being
investigated. His client has yet to be questioned by the police
as he is still recovering from wounds he received during the
beating.

He disclosed that the incident has something to do with a 1990
Rp 3.6 billion (US$1.8 million) loan from a private bank.

In 1990 an acquaintance, Lay Mei Lin, obtained a loan from the
private bank where she worked. Because bank regulations do not
allow an employee to apply for a loan, Mei Lin used Han's name on
the application form.

With an agreement between the two, it was said that Han
obtained a Rp 3.6 million loan from the bank. But after receiving
the money, he gave it to Mei Lin who then gave the money to her
brother Hariyanto Latief with an agreement that Latief would
repay the bank.

In 1993, the bank asked Han to repay the loan. Han then told
Latief, who had used the money to import luxurious cars, to repay
the bank. But Latief instead declared bankruptcy.

The bank, based on the loan agreement, kept asking Han to
settle the debt. The bank then hired debt collectors. (29)