Police deny Tommy's 'arrest'

JAKARTA (JP): National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Saleh Saaf denied on Saturday that police had ever arrested fugitive Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, the youngest son of former president Soeharto, as claimed by President Abdurrahman Wahid on Friday.

"The National Police Headquarters officially denies that," Saleh said in a telephone interview.

"Don't say that the National Police spokesman is saying that the President is wrong. But, no single policeman has ever arrested Tommy."

The President said that Tommy slipped through the fingers of law enforcers in a small East Java town two weeks ago.

Speaking after Friday prayers in Ciganjur, South Jakarta, Abdurrahman claimed that Tommy, after being caught, demanded to meet the President and indicated he had incriminating information on tape, prompting the nervous policeman to telephone the President. Abdurrahman said Tommy then made his escape through a window.

East Java Police have denied the report, while the head of the South Jakarta Prosecutor's Office Antasari Azhar said on Friday that his office knew nothing of the incident. (ylt)