Police probe burglary at Akbar's house

JAKARTA (JP): Jakarta Police detectives are questioning four men in connection with Saturday morning's alleged theft of a bag containing important documents, checkbooks and Rp 2 million (US$285) in cash from the residence of House of Representatives (DPR) Speaker Akbar Tandjung.

City police chief of violence and crime unit Maj. Dharma Pongrekun identified the four as security guard Sugiran, Akbar's driver Asep, servant Tarno and former servant Nirman.

"We have asked where each of the four men were during the time the loss of the bag was noticed (4:30 a.m. on Saturday) and at other times on Friday, leading up to the alleged theft on Saturday. Each has told us where they were...," Dharma told reporters.

"The only one who does not seem to be where he told us he was is Nirman. I cannot say more. The police are getting a lot of heat over this case ... and we are still busy trying to prove whether this was a theft at all."

A burglary was reported early on Saturday morning from the study in Akbar's house, on Jl. Widya Chandra in the ministerial housing complex of Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta.

There was no sign of forced entry to the study, a police source said.

The source said Akbar, who is also the Golkar Party chairman, was actually packing to leave for Medan, North Sumatra, for a party meeting.

"He was also going to visit his parents' graveyard in South Tapanuli," the source said.

Sugiran told reporters that while packing his bags, Akbar realized that a bag was missing.

"He got really angry and asked everybody in the house to look for it," Sugiran said.

"The bag is usually kept in the study, so that it does not get lost in the midst of all the packing ... and so it can easily be picked up when our boss leaves the house."

As the bag could still not be found, Akbar left without it for the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport to catch a 6 a.m. flight, Sugiran said.

On the questioning of the four men, the police source said that they had very little to go on, other than the fact that Nirman was not in the place he said he was.

"Nirman was actually sacked a month ago ... but he still freely entered and left Akbar's house. Still, we can't make him a suspect because of that," the source said.

"If this was a burglary at all, then we are dealing with a very slick one."

The alleged theft at Akbar's residence has sparked anger from several House members.

Yasril Ananta Baharuddin, the chairman of House Commission I for defense, foreign and political affairs, said on Saturday the incident reflected badly on the National Police, who had recently vowed to tighten security around legislators following the recent attempted murder of Matori Abdul Djalil, the deputy speaker of the People's Consultative Assembly and the two unsolved shootings at the House complex.

Legislator Faisal Baasir blamed the theft on the police officers assigned to safeguard lawmakers' residences.

"I want all the police officers, including their superiors, who were assigned to secure the complex, to be replaced as soon as possible," he told a local television station on Saturday. (ylt)