Police may summon Fuad for clarification over bomb case

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Police may summon former finance minister and current MPR legislator Fuad Bawazier for clarification over his alleged involvement in a bombing case here, City Police Chief Insp. Gen. Sofjan Jacoeb said on Friday.

"Police need to cross-check any information from the suspects during the interrogation in order to find whether or not their statements are true," he said.

Sofjan, however, said that police would first gather information from other witnesses before summoning Fuad for clarification.

The name of Fuad Bawazier resurfaced when Kisman Latumakulita, 35, one of three suspects in a bomb possession case, admitted that the eight homemade bombs found last Saturday at Hotel Mega in Central Jakarta, were previously intended to protect Fuad's home.

Police found the bombs after a tip from hotel staff, but refused to comment further on a possible link to the Nov. 9 bomb attack on Petra church in Koja, North Jakarta, where a prayer for peace in Maluku was held.

Kisman added that the bombs were to be used to counter possible attacks by supporters of President Abdurrahman Wahid at Fuad's home ahead of the former president's fall in July.

Fuad, now a member of the Reform Faction in the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), could not be reached for comment on Friday, as his mobile phone was apparently out of order.

Kisman admitted that he had offered Fuad some associates from Ambon to help protect his house amid rising political tensions at that time.

"I offered Pak Fuad help in safeguarding his home as I have known him very well since I was a reporter," he said.

Kisman was a former journalist for the business daily Neraca and afternoon daily Terbit, while Fuad briefly served as the finance minister under the 16-month administration of President B.J. Habibie.

Kisman said some 30 guards from Ambon had secured Fuad's home after the first memorandum was issued by the DPR to President Abdurrahman Wahid early this year, until the former president was toppled in July.

"Pak Fuad did finance the travel of "my younger brothers" from Ambon," Kisman said, referring to the guards he summoned from Ambon.

According to police reports, Kisman assembled the eight bombs along with two other suspects, Yupiter Adventius Poeang, 26, and Randi Abari Lapadanga, 32.