Police continue to question Hong Lie

Police continue to question Hong Lie

JAKARTA (JP): The police are beginning to focus their
investigation on the possible involvement of Hong Lie in the
assassination of Nyo Beng Seng, killed in what is being commonly
described as a mob related hit last month.

A reliable source told The Jakarta Post yesterday that City
Police Chief Maj. Gen. Mochammad Hindarto presided over a special
meeting to study all related material evidence and information
gathered by police in connection with the murder.

"The meeting this morning ended with a decision to locate Hong
Lie as we want to know his position in connection with the
murder," said the source, who refused to be named.

Hong Lie is believed to have been a main competitor of Beng
Seng in the business of arranging illegal-gambling junkets to
such places as Hong Kong and Perth, Australia.

The source said that Hong Lie, now thought to be in Hong Kong,
might have hired killers from a Jakarta-based gang.

The meeting at the City Police headquarters yesterday was held
after a pre-reconstruction of the slaying, carried out by police
personnel, at the scene of the crime in North Jakarta Tuesday.

Hindarto as well as City Police spokesman, Lt. Col. A. Latief
Rabar, could not be reached yesterday for comment.

Beng Seng, alias Darmansyah Suyadi, 57, was stabbed at 2 a.m.
on April 15 by a group of at least four masked men in front of
his second wife's house at Jl. Pluit Kencana Raya 128 in North
Jakarta.

Minutes before he died, he whispered to his second wife, Tuti
Sulastri, 47, the names Hong Lie and A Lay, who he believed had
plotted his death.

A Lay, whose fullname is Oey Jeng Lay, has been questioned at
least five times by investigators at the Penjaringan police
subprecinct, which is handling the case.

According to the source, the police learned that A Lay and
Tuti both know the plotter of Beng Seng's death, "but the two are
worried about their own life, fearing that Hong Lie might hire
killers to kill them," the source said.

Lawyer

Meanwhile A Lay's lawyer O.C. Kaligis refused to comment on
whether his client knows who's behind Beng Seng's murder.

"Let the police do the investigation," Kaligis said. "My
client and I are ready at any time to help the police reveal the
truth," he added.

The lawyer admitted that the police have urged his client to
stay in the country for the moment.

"It's just for the sake of A Lay's own life," Kaligis said,
denying a report that A Lay who had been questioned as a person
who was close to Beng Seng has become a suspect in the case.

"A Lay has been questioned neither as a witness, nor as a
suspect, but as a citizen (close to the victim) to explain his
position and alibi in connection with Beng Seng's slaying,"
Kaligis said, adding that A Lay visited Penjaringan police
subprecinct for a second time yesterday morning to explain his
position.

A Lay's first questioning at the police station was carried
out Wednesday last week soon after he arrived from Singapore.

During the questioning, A Lay told the police that he was a
close friend of the victim and owed him Rp 3.5 billion (US$1.63
million) to cover debts at several gambling halls in the
Portuguese colony of Macao.

"However, A Lay has paid almost half of the debt," Kaligis
quoted his client as saying.

The investigation on Beng Seng's death has been carried out
for 20 days with no significant results.

At least eight people, including A Lay, Tuti and Beng Seng's
driver, have been questioned. The prime witness to the murder,
the driver Saaman, 45, has been hidden by the police. (bsr)