Police chief defends arrest of prosecutors
Police chief defends arrest of prosecutors
DEPOK (JP): National Police chief Gen. Dibyo Widodo defended yesterday the arrest and questioning of prosecutors and employees of the Jakarta Provincial Prosecutor's Office.
The four-star general reiterated that the move was taken in line with existing procedures and the case was clearly criminal.
"So, they can't say that the arrests were groundless," he said, referring to a complaint about police action by the Attorney General's Office on Monday.
Deputy Attorney General Agung Sudjono C. Atmonegoro criticized the arrests of four employees, saying that police should have first asked for permission from his office.
But Dibyo maintained that the police officers had informed the Attorney General's Office about the arrests.
"The questioning and arrests, which were lawful, were reported to their respective superiors afterward," Dibyo told reporters.
Two prosecutors (not three as reported earlier) and two employees of the Jakarta Provincial Prosecutor's Office were summoned by National Police detectives on Thursday and Friday last week.
Police wanted to question the men about their alleged roles in falsifying statements and encouraging witnesses to commit perjury in order to frame someone for the April 1994 killing of entertainment businessman Nyo Beng Seng.
According to Dibyo, police released two of the men and detained the other two as suspects.
"The first two were released recently due to a lack of evidence which could identify them as suspects in the case."
He identified the two as Andhi Nirwanto, now head of the sex- related crimes unit at North Jakarta Prosecutor's Office, and Johny Siahaan, an administrative staffer at the office.
The suspects were identified as J. Kamaru, an assistant to the Deputy Attorney General for intelligence, and Afrizal, one of Johny's colleagues.
A police source told The Jakarta Post yesterday evening that the dossiers on Kamaru and Johny have been completed and will be handed over to the prosecutor's office along with the available evidence.
"The investigation was finalized after we questioned at least seven people, including the two suspects and three other witnesses, one of whom was a neighborhood chief," the source said.
The two suspects will be charged under Article 242 of the Criminal Code for encouraging another person to make false statements in court, he said.
The article carries a maximum penalty of seven years in jail.
The source said that Kamaru and Afrizal's relatives had requested police detectives release the men on bail.
"We will, of course, meet their request if we have approval from our chief (Dibyo)."
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.
The victim's rival, Eng San, and three other suspects were found guilty of murder by North Jakarta District Court. But Eng San was later acquitted by Jakarta High Court.
Police reopened their investigation after officers learned that one of the witnesses, Mashuri -- who is the chief of Semper district in North Jakarta -- allegedly admitted that his written testimony was prepared by the prosecutors.
He reportedly signed a statement which stated that another witness, Kikie Ariyanto, was still registered as a resident of Semper.
Kikie, who has never been found and is still listed as a wanted person, is one of the key witnesses in the case who identified Eng San as the mastermind behind the killing. (cst/bsr)