Police tried to bribe Zarina, driver says

JAKARTA (JP): A driver testifying in the Ecstasy trial of TV actress Zarina, said yesterday he heard the police who raided Zarina's house offering her a "amicable" settlement.

The police asked Zarina, the defendant, to give them half the contents of a safe found in her bedroom, the driver said.

Nurfan, the driver, who was earlier mentioned as a friend of the family, said he overheard the officers telling Zarina that if she gave them half the Ecstasy, they would report that they had seized her while she was in a taxi, but that she had escaped.

Nurfan, 32, works for Zarina's mother. He was at Zarina's house when the officers arrived on Aug. 7.

Zarina was arrested in the raid. They confiscated a safe which officers later found to contain 29,677 Ecstasy pills and Rp 100,000 (US$41).

The driver's testimony contradicts the earlier testimonies of three police officers involved in the raid. Only three of the four police officers involved in the raid were summoned to testify.

In the March 10 hearing the three officers told the court that Zarina had offered them a "amicable" settlement in the form of a bribe which went from Rp 5 million to Rp 30 million.

Nurfan said policemen made their offer after showing Zarina a search warrant. Before searching the house they told Zarina they knew there was illegal material in her house.

He said the "amicable" offer was made by one of the four officers who raided the house in Alfa Indah, Kebon Jeruk. He said he did not know the officer's name but remembered the four officers' faces. He said he had no idea what a "amicable" settlement meant.

Later Zarina confirmed Nurfan's testimony. She added the police officers had first asked for 50 million, but slowly dropped to Rp 5 million.

Nurfan repeatedly told the West Jakarta Court he was afraid to testify.

The judges, led by Sumantri, instructed Nurfan to explain in detail what the police discussed with Zarina.

Nurfan said after the police found the safe in Zarina's bedroom, they tried to talk her into agreeing, but Zarina did not.

The officers talked to her for 90 minutes, Nurfan said, trying to cajole Zarina into accepting their offer. He heard Zarina refusing, saying the safe did not belong to her, and that she did not even know its contents.

"She said the safe was not hers, but Roy's," he added.

Roy, identified by Zarina as a friend, has not been summoned to testify. Judge Sumantri has asked each of the witnesses who knew Roy of his whereabouts, to no avail.

Then the officers told Zarina to open it, but she said she did not have the keys.

Finally the officers put the safe in their jeep. But they took Nurfan with them, not Zarina.

The police car had only driven a few meters when Zarina stopped them, saying they should take her, Nurfan said.

He said Zarina told him to wait for her sister and Roy.

Three of the officers then drove Zarina away in her car, while the fourth officer took the safe to the precinct in the police jeep. Nurfan said at the precinct, a policeman told him he could "help" Zarina for Rp 10 million. (13)