Singaporean's bribery claim probed

Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Police are investigating alleged bribery involving five police guards after a Singaporean arrested for theft, Tang Khen Seng, 32, alias Jeremy, told local television stations that he had paid his way out of detention last week.

City police spokesman Sr. Comr. Tjiptono said Thursday that the five police personnel were still being detained and interrogated for allegedly receiving bribe money from Jeremy, who was arrested for allegedly breaking into guest's lockers in spas and fitness centers of several five-star hotels in the capital.

"Up until today, there is no evidence that our officers received bribes from Jeremy. However, we are still questioning them. If we find enough evidence we will punish them according to the law," Tjiptono said.

He said the five police guards, including guard shift leader Adj. Sec. Insp. Mayer Manalu, admitted that they had been very close with the suspect during the last two months of his detention.

"It is normal for guards and suspects to talk with each other as they meet every day," Tjiptono said.

Last Friday, Jeremy successfully persuaded guards on duty to let him use the visitor's toilet, instead of the prisoner's toilet. He broke through the window of the toilet and escaped.

After several days on the run, Jeremy was arrested on Tuesday evening by local police at the Conrad Hotel in Denpasar, Bali while allegedly trying to steal visitor's personal belongings in the hotel's locker room.

Upon his arrival from Denpasar last Wednesday, Jeremy told several TV stations that police guards offered him a way to escape in exchange for money.

"They offered it to me ... and I paid them some money to let me escape," he told reporters in a door-stop interview in front of the city police general crime division building.

Jeremy also complained that police officers had treated him harshly.

Tjiptono denied Jeremy's allegations saying that police had a code of conduct for treating suspects and that he had injured his legs by jumping from the third floor of a hotel in an effort to avoid arrest by security guards.

"His earlier case file is complete. Prosecutors will probably declare it complete in two days," said Tjiptono.

Jeremy was charged under Article 363 of Criminal Code on theft, which carries a maximum penalty of seven years in prison.

He was arrested for the first time on Dec. 7 last year following a police investigation into allegations that he was involved in the theft of visitor's belongings in gymnasiums and spas at several five-star hotels in Jakarta.