Police enter secret 'bunker', but fail to find Tommy

Police enter secret 'bunker', but fail to find Tommy

JAKARTA (JP): After two days of continuous drilling, police
officers on Tuesday eventually broke into an air-conditioned
underground bunker below the Central Jakarta home of the fugitive
Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra.

Secretary to the city police detectives chief, Adj. Snr. Comr.
Abdullah, said police spent all of Tuesday afternoon making an
inventory of what was found in the four meter by four meter room.

"No Tommy (in there). We did find a complete kitchen set, an
exhaust fan, brand new air-conditioner, racks and shelves, tool
kits and electric lights," Abdullah told reporters on Tuesday.

Chief of the city police detectives Snr. Comr. Harry Montolalu
said police were unable to find the switches to turn the electric
lights on.

"We are checking whether the room is interconnected with
others," Harry told reporters.

There have been several reports of interconnecting bunkers
below the adjoining residences of the former first family,
located in Jakarta's plush Menteng area.

Harry said the bunker appeared to have a hydraulic door and
that the police were unable to find the switch which operated it.

After conducting raids in over 100 places nationwide last
week, including the Surakarta residence of former Minister of
Defense and Security, Gen. (ret) Wiranto, police suspected that
Tommy, a 38-year-old billionaire businessman, could be hiding in
the bunker.

The opening of the bunker was witnessed by Tommy's sister,
Siti Hutami "Mamiek" Endang Adiningsih, and the Soeharto family
lawyer, Juan Felix Tampubolon, stuck to his earlier statements
that the bunker was nothing but a stuffy cellar.

"A person might choose to hide there if he had chosen to
die... it's so stuffy. The room is also not lit. My client
(Tommy) wouldn't hide in there," Juan told reporters outside
Tommy's Menteng residence.

Juan had earlier told reporters that police were illegally
breaking the floors of Tommy's home, since the police had no
warrant from any Jakarta court authorizing them to do so.

"The police only have a search warrant. We strongly object to
this demolition and will soon take legal action," Juan had told
reporters.

Meanwhile, Tommy's lawyer Elza Syarief said on Tuesday that
Tommy's wife, Ardhia Pramesti Regita Cahyani, was quite upset
over the breaking of the floors in Tommy's house.

"She was angry... she's currently in Singapore. She felt hurt
that this was being done to the house," Elza told reporters.

Elza was questioned as a witness by National Police detectives
on Tuesday, over the events leading up to the disappearance of
Tommy in November last year.

Police, Elza said, focused their questions on "how Tommy was
able to escape."

"It was obvious they were focusing their questions on this
issue... they asked me questions like how many times did Tommy
meet with President Abdurrahman Wahid before he disappeared. I
told them twice, at the Hotel Borobudur and Hotel Regent late
last year," Elza said.

"I told them I had no idea what went on in those two meetings
since I wasn't present. The police also asked me how many times
did Tommy meet with Hasyim "Gus Im" Wahid before he disappeared.
I told them only once, at Gus Im's residence."

In November last year, President Abdurrahman rejected Tommy's
appeal for a pardon in respect of the conviction imposed by the
Supreme Court, reversing a lower court ruling. (ylt)