Police action irritates Attorney General's office
JAKARTA (JP): The Attorney General's Office has expressed its dissatisfaction with police procedures in the recent detention of five employees for allegedly fabricating witnesses' statements.
Deputy Attorney General Agung Sudjono C. Atmonegoro told reporters here yesterday that the police needed permission from the office prior to making the arrests.
He said the five employees "had carried out their jobs reliably and based on existing procedures".
An official letter of protest was forwarded to the National Police chief on Friday but as yet there has been no response, Sudjono said.
Three of the five were reportedly prosecutors at the trial, and two are employees of Jakarta Provincial Prosecutor's Office.
They were detained for questioning by National Police detectives on Thursday and Friday for their alleged roles in falsifying statements and encouraging witnesses to commit perjury to frame someone for the April 1994 killing of entertainment businessman Nyo Beng Seng.
The first three suspects were identified as J. Kamaru, now an Attorney General's Office employee, Andhi Nirwanto, now the head of the sex-related crimes unit at North Jakarta Prosecutor's Office, and Harun M. Husein, now the head of Sawahlunto Prosecutor's Office in West Sumatra.
The remaining suspects, Johny Siahaan and Afrizal, are still administration employees at the Provincial Prosecutor's Office.
A reliable source at National Police Headquarters told The Jakarta Post yesterday that -- based on a preliminary investigation -- only Kamaru and Afrizal have been officially named as suspects.
"The other three were released late last week after a brief interrogation," the senior officer, who did not want to be identified, said.
"But, we'll still need the three men to appear as witnesses in the case."
The source refused to elaborate on the alleged roles of the two suspects, saying that the investigation had been put on hold temporarily but officers would meet again Thursday.
"In the meantime, we have a lot of cases to solve," the officer said.
The two suspects will be charged under Article 242 of the Criminal Code for asking other people to make false statements in court, he said.
The article carries a maximum penalty of seven years in jail.
National Police chief Gen. Dibyo Widodo confirmed the arrest and questioning of the five people.
Beng Seng, alias Darmansyah Suyadi, one of the city's "big bosses" of gambling dens and nightspots, died after being stabbed 12 times on the night of April 15. The 57-year-old was attacked in front of his second wife's mansion in Pluit, North Jakarta.
Police quoted witnesses as saying that at least four masked men were involved in the fatal attack.
The detention and questioning of the suspects was authorized by the chairman of the Agency for the Coordination of Support for the Development of National Stability, Gen. Feisal Tanjung, who is also the Armed Forces chief, Media Indonesia reported yesterday.
The police decided to act after officers learned that one of the case's witnesses, Mashuri, who is the chief of Semper district in North Jakarta, allegedly admitted that his written testimony was prepared by the prosecutors.
The newspaper report said that he signed the testimony, which stated that another witness, Kikie Ariyanto, was still registered as a resident of Semper.
Kikie is one of the key witnesses in the case who identified Eng San, the victim's rival, as the mastermind behind the killing.
Eng San and three other suspects were found guilty of killing Beng Seng by North Jakarta District Court. But Eng San was later acquitted by Jakarta High Court. (bsr)