Police deny Tommy's 'arrest'

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)