Police widen probe into tapping
Police widen probe into tapping
JAKARTA (JP): Police have extended the investigation into the
recording of a conversation believed to be between President B.J.
Habibie and Attorney General A.M. Ghalib, summoning television
station employees and naming Habibie as a possible witness in a
criminal case.
Police were building criminal charges against the media
workers based on laws prohibiting the dissemination of false
information.
National Police Detectives Directorate chief in charge of
general crimes Col. Makbul Padmanagara said on Monday police had
summoned several TV workers to appear at police headquarters at
Jl. Trunojoyo No. 3 in Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta, on Tuesday.
He said police had also summoned two readers of the Panji
Masyarakat weekly, which published the Habibie-Ghalib phone
conversation, believed to be the result of an unauthorized phone
recording.
"They were summoned as witnesses," Makbul said, without
revealing the names of those summoned.
The Media Indonesia daily, quoting Maj. Gen. Da'i Bachtiar of
the National Police, reported that Habibie and Ghalib would be
questioned as witnesses only "after all the lower level
investigations have been carried out".
On Friday, police questioned Panji deputy general manager and
acting chief editor Uni Zulfiani Lubis. In its Feb. 17 edition,
the magazine ran several interviews with individuals close to the
President and attorney general after failing to get confirmation
from the two that the conversation actually took place.
Earlier, the lesser-known tabloid Berita Keadilan in its Jan.
12 edition also published excerpts of the same conversation.
Habibie did not deny having the conversation, but ordered an
immediate investigation. Ghalib, however, denied the conversation
ever took place, and this stance was reiterated by Attorney
General Office spokesman Soehandoyo.
"It's not true, not true," Soehandoyo insisted on Monday as
reported in the SCTV afternoon news program.
No information was available on whether the police had begun
testing the authenticity of the recorded voices.
But a reliable source close to Habibie said on Monday the
President had confirmed the recorded voice was his.
Police said they were focusing their probe into a possible
violation of Articles 14 and 15 of Law No. 1/1946 on the
dissemination of false information or news which stirs public
unrest. The charge carries a maximum two-year imprisonment if
convicted.
In their summons to a cameraman from SCTV on Saturday, police
said: "It is alleged that SCTV received and disseminated recorded
cassettes containing the conversation of President B.J. Habibie
and Attorney General Andi Muhammad Ghalib."
Don Bosco, coordinator of the station's Liputan 6 news
program, confirmed the summons.
However, Don said the station might send a representative
rather the cameraman.
He said the television station aired for 40 seconds the
recorded conversation in its news report last Thursday.
Separately, Chrys Kelana of RCTI also confirmed police had
summoned him regarding the same matter.
Chrys said the station also relayed the conversation on
Thursday, but "only for a few seconds".
The managing editor of ANteve, Dede Apriadi, said station news
director Azkarmin Zaini also received a summons on Saturday.
Meanwhile, two other television employees, Nugroho F. Yudho,
coordinator of the Indosiar news program, and Feizars Noor,
director of the TPI news department, said no summons had been
received by their offices so far.
Indosiar aired the controversial recording on Thursday.
Feizars said his station did not air the conversation.
Many observers said the tapped conversation was scandalous as
it showed that Habibie was not serious about the investigation
into former president Soeharto's alleged corruption.
(01/edt/prb/emf/aan)