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