Police await Maga's OK to question lawmaker

Police await Maga's OK to question lawmaker

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta

National Police Headquarters have postponed the questioning of
Nurdin Halid, chairman of the Confederation of Primary
Cooperatives Association (Inkud), in relation to a sugar
smuggling case pending approval by President Megawati
Soekarnoputri, a police general said on Monday.

Questioning was initially scheduled for Tuesday.

Comr. Gen. Suyitno Landung, National Police chief of
detectives, estimated that the bureaucratic process would delay
Nurdin's questioning until at least until next week.

Suyitno explained that the police headquarters sent a letter
to the Attorney General's Office on Monday requesting that the
office apply for presidential approval for Nurdin to be
questioned. It takes time for presidential approval to be handed
down, said the police general.

"Presidential approval is mandatory as Nurdin is House of
Representatives legislator," said Suyitno.

Police want to question Nurdin, a powerful politician linked
to the mighty Golkar Party, in connection with 73,000 tons of
smuggled sugar found in warehouses in Jakarta, Bekasi, Bogor and
Makassar, South Sulawesi province, following the questioning of
Inkud president director Chairudin Noor last Thursday.

According to Suyitno, Nurdin and Chairudin should have been
aware of every mayor transaction made by the association, so that
it was essential for police to question them as witnesses.

Their status, however, could be changed to that of suspect if
there is enough evidence to charge them, said Suyitno.

Police headquarters have named eight suspects in the case,
namely Nurdin's younger brother Abdul Waris Halid of Inkud;
Effendy Kemek, Jack Tanim and Andi Badar Saleh of a consortium
formed by Inkud to take care of imports; and exporter Phoenix
Commodities Indonesia president director Raja Bernaje.

The other three are Wahyono, the head of the service division
at Tanjung Priok customs and excise office, Yan Miral, the head
of Tanjung Priok I investigation section and Muhammad Zein, the
head of Tanjung Priok I intelligence subunit.

Jack and Andi are on the run, while Raja Bernaje ignored a
police summons. Abdul Waris and Effendy are being detained at
police headquarters.

Suyitno said the eight had been declared suspects because they
were responsible for the illegal entry of the sugar into the
country. Several of them have been charged with falsifying
documents, he said without elaborating.

He explained that most of the suspects in the case had been
questioned by the police. "Except for the three fugitives, we
have questioned all of the suspects. We have the big picture on
who was responsible for the smuggling, but we need information
from more witnesses in order to enable us to complete the
dossiers," he said.

National Police Director of Fraud Brig. General Samuel Ismoko
said previously that the police had anticipated the possibility
of the three fugitive suspects attempting to flee the country by
imposing travel bans on them. He said he signed a letter
instructing the immigration office to ban Inkud's general trade
division head Abdul Waris, consortium chairman Jack Tanim and
consortium employee Andi Badar Saleh from traveling abroad.

The illegally imported sugar has caused the price of local
sugar to fall to less than its production cost to between Rp
3,200 (34 U.S. cents) and Rp 3,300, causing local producers huge
losses.