Police action irritates Attorney General's office
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)