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)