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)