Source says family member behind Boedyharto murder

Source says family member behind Boedyharto murder

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Police detectives were sent out of town on Sunday to track down
those involved in the cold-blooded murder of the president
director of PT Asaba and his bodyguard on Saturday morning.

"Our detectives are still in the field tracking down the
suspects. Some are working out of town," North Jakarta Police
detectives' chief Comr. Andhap Budhi Refianto told reporters.

Boedyharto Angsono, 55, and his bodyguard First Sgt. Edy
Siyet, 33, who is also a member of the Army's Special Forces
(Kopassus), were in the Sasana Krida sports stadium parking lot
on Jl. Jembatan Tiga in Penjaringan, North Jakarta, where they
were going to play basketball, when the brutal shooting took
place.

Edy was opening the car's left rear door for Boedyharto when
the hit man shot him in the head. Boedyharto tried to run away
from the car but the hitman managed to shoot him in the back.

With Boedyharto prostrate on the ground, the hit man shot him
too in the head before fleeing the scene on a motorcycle ridden
by another suspect who was waiting nearby.

However, Boedyharto's driver Darjan survived the incident as
he was still inside the bulletproof Mercedes-Benz S600 car.

This is the 13th shooting incident that has happened in
Jakarta since January.

A forensic medicine expert at the Cipto Mangunkusumo General
Hospital, Dr. Zulhasmar Syamsu, said that Boedyharto and Edy had
both died instantly at the scene of the shootings.

"I found a bullet entry hole at the back of Edy's head, with
the bullet penetrating up as far as the forehead, which damaged
his brain. In Boedyharto's body, there were two gunshot wounds to
the head and three to the body," he said.

Following the autopsy, Zulhasmar said that the fatal shots had
been fired less than 60 centimeters from the victims as he had
found carbon traces on the victims' skin.

Police also found eight empty bullet cases from an FN pistol
at the scene.

Andhap said that a family feud involving a fugitive convict
named Gunawan Santoso, Boedyharto's son-in-law, was behind in the
shootings.

The allegation was revealed earlier by a source close to
Boedyharto's family who spoke on condition of anonymity. The
source said that Gunawan was the mastermind behind the shootings.

The source said that Gunawan had allegedly embezzled Rp 25
billion (US$3.05 million) from Boedyharto's seven companies,
which he had been assigned to manage after marrying Alice, one of
Boedyharto's four children, in 1991.

The embezzlement was uncovered by PT Asaba finance director
Paulus Tejakusuma.

In 1999, Gunawan hired 200 people to stage a rally against
Boedyharto, ostensibly protesting against alleged tax evasion.

A prosecution was later taken against Gunawan for the
embezzlement as a result of which he was convicted and sentenced
to two years and seven months in jail.

He was incarcerated in Salemba Penitentiary, moved to
Sukamiskin Penitentiary in Bandung, and then to Kuningan
Penitentiary in Cirebon, West Java. Gunawan became a fugitive
after he escaped Kuningan Penitentiary on Jan. 15 this year.

The source alleged that Gunawan had been plotting attacks
targeting Paulus, Boedyharto and his family in revenge for the
fate that had befallen Gunawan's.

Paulus was shot on Jl. Angkasa in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta,
on June 6. He was driving his car when he was shot by a hitman on
a motorcycle. He suffered severe chest injuries and is reportedly
undergoing treatment in Singapore.

Following the shooting of Paulus, the source said that
Boedyharto's family had received four faxed threats on different
occasions.

"We passed the faxes on to the police but they did nothing
until Pak Boedyharto was shot," the source said.

The source also said that more of Boedyharto's family members
might be on the hit list unless the police managed to capture
Gunawan and the others involved.