Police to question Tommy's wife, lawyers, bodyguards over bunker

JAKARTA (JP): The city police are scheduled to interrogate on Monday all three lawyers of the fugitive Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, Tommy's wife, Ardhia Pramesti "Tata" Regita Cahyani and several of Tommy's bodyguards, for having provided the police with misleading information.

Separate summonses for Tata, Tommy's bodyguards and lawyers Juan Felix Tampubolon, Nudirman Munir and Elza Syarief, were issued on Thursday, city police chief of detectives Sr. Comr. Harry Montolalu told reporters on Friday evening at city police headquarters.

"We will interrogate them on why they gave us erroneous information about the bunker.

"Some will be questioned as suspects, and others as witnesses. They said the bunker did not exist ... they were lying. The lawyers and Tata also gave us misleading information about the bunker."

Harry said that those summoned would be questioned under Article 216 of the Criminal Code for obstructing the police in the performance of their duty, an offense which carries a maximum jail term of four months and two weeks.

Despite having found nobody in the air-conditioned and well- furnished bunker, police refused to eliminate the possibility that the fugitive, a billionaire businessman, could be hiding somewhere in or around Jl. Cendana in the leafy Menteng area of Central Jakarta, where Soeharto and his children live.

There have been reports of interconnecting bunkers beneath the adjoining residences of the former first family.

Nudirman said on Friday that the fact that police were questioning lawyers over the case was "clear harassment of the legal profession."

"Our job is to defend our clients to the best of our abilities ... it doesn't matter what he is in the eyes of the public, he is still our client. Why are the police trying to attack or hinder us in doing our job?" Nudirman told The Jakarta Post.

"I might as well resign as a lawyer altogether. If this goes on any longer, I will just change my profession."

Juan Felix told reporters on Friday that what he understood as a bunker was "a place of refuge during the war," where people hid from bomb attacks.

"What police found was what we'd call a cellar," Juan said.

Among the toolkits, three bullet-proof vests were also found in the bunker.

Tommy's family members and lawyers had been insisting for months that no bunker would be found in or around Jl. Cendana. His elder sister, Siti Hardijanti "Tutut" Indra Rukmana, even said Rp 200 million (US$21,000) would be given to anybody who could prove the bunker's existence.

Tommy has been on the run as soon as President Abdurrahman Wahid refused to give him a pardon early in November last year.

The National Police have launched a synchronous operation nationwide to capture Tommy, although they said they focused their search on all his possible hiding-places in Jakarta and East Java. (ylt/bby)