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)