Maya Sigit drug hearing begins at district court

Maya Sigit drug hearing begins at district court

JAKARTA (JP): Gusti Maya Firanti Noor, 29, wife of former
president Soeharto's grandson, Ari Sigit, appeared at the West
Jakarta District Court without her husband on Wednesday for the
initial hearing of her alleged involvement in drugs.

Dressed in black, the somber-looking defendant, better known
as Maya Sigit, politely answered all questions by prosecutor
Achjadi Sartono and presiding judge Sri Handojo, and mainly kept
her head down during the reading of the indictment and the
questioning of three witnesses.

She was accompanied by lawyers Yacob Johannes and Basuki
Abdullah.

"The defendant has violated Article 62 of Law No. 5/1997 on
psychotropic substances," Achjadi said in the hearing, packed
with attendees, among them her friends.

The article carries a maximum sentence of five years
imprisonment and a maximum fine of Rp 100 million (US$11,235).

Achjadi said the defendant was arrested after police found
1.58 grams of shabu-shabu (crystal methamphetamine) and smoking
equipment, among other things, in her possession and inside her
Mercedes Benz sedan, which was parked in the parking lot of Hotel
Olympic in West Jakarta's Tamansari district on June 22, 2000.

West Jakarta Police deputy chief of detectives Sr. Insp.
Asrofi, 51, told the court that he was about 50 meters from Hotel
Olympic on the day the defendant was arrested, when he heard
people arguing over fake money and vouchers.

"I checked with an owner of a store near the hotel, which was
selling cell phone vouchers. The store owner told me that two
people had tried to buy a Rp 100,000 Pro-XL voucher from him,
using two Rp 50,000 banknotes. One banknote was fake," Asrofi
said.

"I ran after the two guys. One man turned out to be the
hotel's security guard, who was asked by the defendant to buy the
voucher for her with the money she had given him."

Asrofi said that as he approached Maya, who was sitting in her
sedan, and was asking her about the fake money, he spotted the
smoking equipment placed next to her.

"I checked her purse and found a small packet containing one
gram of shabu-shabu, aluminum foil, and other things," he said.

"I got First. Sgt. Riyanto of the West Jakarta Police to
search the sedan and he found another packet under the driver's
seat, containing 0.5816 grams of shabu-shabu."

When judge Handojo asked Maya to respond to Asrofi's
testimony, she said the drug packet inside her purse weighed
0.5816 grams while the packet found under the driver's seat
weighed one gram.

"The witness has not given correct testimony," she told the
court.

At the hearing, Achjadi said that at 4 a.m. on June 22, a
witness, identified as Fritts Patty, alias Alfred, arrived at
room no. 309 at Hotel Olympic to deliver the drugs to the
defendant and received Rp 150,000 in payment from the defendant.

The defendant, he said, then left for the Barcelona Atlanta
karaoke bar in West Jakarta, returning to the hotel only at 11:30
a.m.

Parking her sedan in the hotel's parking lot, Achjadi said
Maya then gave two Rp 50,000 banknotes to a security guard at the
hotel and asked him to buy a cell phone voucher for her.

Before ending the hearing, Judge Handojo read a letter from
the defendant's parents, which was addressed to the panel of
judges and stated that the defendant was in need of medical
treatment due to severe depression and lung problems at Pertamina
Hospital in South Jakarta.

"The panel of judges will consider the letter," Handojo said.

The next hearing will be held on Aug. 21.

Afterward, Maya's mother, Heldi Jaffar Nur, told reporters
that she would attend every hearing of her daughter's case to
show her support.

"Even if our children do something wrong, they are still our
children," she said.

When asked why Maya's husband had not come to the hearing,
Heldi said that he must have been ashamed.

"It concerns his good name also," Heldi said, adding that as
far as she knew, he loved his wife.

"He is a good man, who loves Maya ... of course, there could
be some jealousy between husband and wife. It's logical. It's
possible that the couple are bored with each other and decided to
try new things."

"Anything can happen in a marriage." (ylt)