Police arrested Tommy's bodyguard over 1996 case

JAKARTA (JP): The Jakarta Police has every right to arrest and question the private bodyguard of Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, Indra Hasan, on the basis of a 1996 old case of illegal weapon possession.

"The case and evidence, a .32 millimeter caliber Colt gun, dates back to March 1996... the gun has been police evidence since it was confiscated in 1996. The case was temporarily closed and never processed," Jakarta Police Deputy Chief Brig. Gen. Makbul Padmanagara told The Jakarta Post.

"We have the right to reopen the case and question the suspect. Police have already questioned the suspect on illegal weapon possession. We also have a right to question him on Tommy's disappearance, if we choose to."

Separately, Indra's lawyer Ari Yusuf Amir said on Monday that since Indra's arrest last Saturday, police had yet to question him on illegal weapon possession.

"He has not been questioned. Why is the police still keeping Indra... regulations state that beyond 48 hours if you have not shown the suspect any reason of why he has been held in police custody, he has to be released," Indra said.

Indra, 47, is a director at car manufacturer PT Timor Putra Nasional (TPN), once owned by Tommy.

The suspect will be charged with Article 1 of the 1951 Emergency Law on weapon possession, which carries a maximum punishment of a death sentence.

The National Police is scheduled to question Indra over Tommy's disappearance, who has been on the run for four months since being sentenced to 18 months in jail for corruption.

Meanwhile, Head of the South Jakarta Prosecutor's Office Antasari Azhar said his office planned to confiscate more assets of Tommy as the result of an appraisal to the latter's seized properties was far below than his obligation to repay some Rp 30.6 billion of state losses.

An appraisal made by the Central Jakarta Tax Office stated that the two houses in Menteng area, Central Jakarta, are both worth Rp 11.7 billion, while Tommy's adjoining house on Jl. Yusuf Adiwinata No. 4 worth Rp 5.46 billion and the neighboring house on Jl. Cendana No. 6 worth Rp 6.24 billion.

Antasari said that his office had yet to receive the appraisal result for several plots of land situated in Serang regency, Banten province, and Bogor regency in West Java, which were seized last year after the youngest son of former president Soeharto escaped the execution of his jail term. (ylt/bby)