Police upbeat on building strong case against Tommy

Police upbeat on building strong case against Tommy

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Police on Tuesday remained confident of building a strong case
against Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra as the investigations into
the three charges against him would proceed one at a time.

New National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar insisted that by
focusing on the cases individually, the police would be able to
build a stronger case.

"I have instructed the Jakarta Police chief to resolve the
Tommy issue case-by-case," Da'i said during his first hearing as
police chief with the House of Representatives' Commission II for
domestic and legal affairs.

"This way, there will be no unnecessary biases," he added
without elaborating.

"We will hone the case so that it can be proven piece by
piece," Da'i claimed.

The legal process surrounding Tommy has thus far been reduced
to a series of public farces, which included a year-long flight
from justice and the overturning of his conviction by the Supreme
Court.

Police investigating Tommy are currently focusing on three
separate cases -- the murder of Supreme Court Justice M.
Syafiuddin Kartasasmita, the illegal possession of arms and the
masterminding of a spate of bomb attacks.

Many have also called on police to charge Tommy with contempt
of court following his flight from justice last year. The police
have said, however, that this would only be a compounding factor
for the judge to take into account when deciding on the other
charges against Tommy.

So far, it is not known whether police and prosecutors will
eventually bring the cases before the court in a single
indictment or pursue three separate prosecutions.

Separately on Tuesday, city police spokesman Sr. Comr. Anton
Bachrul Alam said there were 10 specially chosen detectives
tasked with questioning Tommy .

"The first group (on the murder case) is working now and the
second will start as soon as the first questioning is finished."

Each group is expected to present a dossier on their
respective cases once they have completed their interrogations.

Anton, however, did not say whether police would then present
the dossiers separately to prosecutors.

Meanwhile, legislator J.E. Sahetapy urged police to
concentrate on one of the cases so that it could be more
thorough.

Sahetapy, who is also the chairman of the National Law
Commission (KHN), suggested that the murder of Justice Syafiuddin
become the priority.

"The investigation could be made more efficient," Sahetapy
told The Jakarta Post.

Ahmad Ali, a law professor at state-run Hasanuddin University
in Makassar, told the Post that the police should present the
three cases on different indictments.

"The crimes committed should be prosecuted under different
laws," Ahmad, a former specialist advisor at the Ministry of
Justice and Human Rights, said.

"The charges can't be combined in one indictment. They must be
separated because the legal grounds on which the charges are laid
are different," he added.

Legislators on Tuesday also reminded the police that their
reputation was at stake as they were suspicious circumstances
surrounding Tommy's capture.

"We hope the police can satisfy the public's demand for a
serious investigation into all the cases involving Tommy,"
Commission II chairman Teras Narang said.

Da'i also conceded that there were still problems concerning
the public perception of the arrest.

Nevertheless, he argued that the public would eventually be
able to judge for themselves just how serious the police were
once the investigations had been completed.

"We realize the case has become a focus of public attention,"
he said.