Megawati's husband answers summons
Megawati's husband answers summons
JAKARTA (JP): Taufik Kiemas, husband of ousted Indonesian
Democratic Party (PDI) leader Megawati Soekarnoputri, answered a
police summons yesterday to appear as a witness in the Haryanto
Taslam case.
Accompanied by 26 lawyers, Taufik presented himself at the
South Jakarta police precinct.
Police said Taufik, who is a PDI legislator in the House of
Representatives, would be summoned to appear again on Feb. 27 to
answer more questions. Megawati is expected to answer her summons
tomorrow.
Taufik and Megawati have been summoned by police as witnesses
in the case against Haryanto for holding an illegal political
meeting in Taufik's house.
The charges relate to the PDI's 24th anniversary celebration
and a breaking-of-the-fast dinner on Jan. 10.
Haryanto is the deputy PDI secretary-general under Megawati.
Earlier this month Taufik and Megawati defied police summonses
on the grounds the documents were incomplete in that they failed
to mention a suspect.
The police later issued new summonses mentioning Haryanto.
This was confirmed yesterday by Taufik's lawyers and a police
investigator who asked to remain anonymous.
The investigator, a member of the interrogating team, said
police had asked 29 questions to build a case against Haryanto.
South Jakarta Police Precinct Chief Lt. Col. Sisno Adiwinoto
surprised reporters when he told them the summonses did not
mention Haryanto as the suspect.
"The police need not mention any suspect to summons people.
What's important in this case is that a crime has allegedly been
committed and that the police now are investigating it to find
out who the perpetrators were," he said.
"It's possible that by the information derived from the
questioning of witnesses, the police could arrive at more than
one suspect for the alleged crime," Sisno said.
The police investigator said: "From the questions asked, we
have enough proof to charge Haryanto of violating Article 510 of
the Criminal Code."
He said that the police had around 20 more questions for
Taufik.
Article 510 stipulates that anyone holding a public festivity
or street rally without the necessary permits is liable to a
maximum penalty of two weeks imprisonment or a Rp 375 (20 U.S.
cents) fine.
Trimedya Panjaitan, one of the four lawyers accompanying
Taufik during the questioning, told reporters that his client had
been interrogated in connection with the case against Haryanto.
Trimedya said that the questions asked of his client
yesterday were on why Taufik had let his house be used for the
celebration of the 24th PDI anniversary and why he had not asked
for police permits. (08/jun)