Suwondo has yet to link Gus Dur to Bulog scandal

Suwondo has yet to link Gus Dur to Bulog scandal

JAKARTA (JP): President Abdurrahman Wahid's former masseur,
Alip Agung Suwondo, alias An Peng Sui, has yet to speak of the
President's alleged involvement in the Rp 35 billion (US$3.9
million) scam at the State Logistics Agency (Bulog), due to weak
mental and physical condition, a police officer said on Sunday.

"He has been saying weird things since his arrest on Saturday
at his Cisarua villa in Bogor. We have called a doctor to visit
him today (Sunday)," National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Saleh
Saaf told reporters at a press conference at the City Police
Headquarters.

"We have not been able to carry out an intense interrogation,
since he doesn't seem to be well. Let the doctor examine him."

Saleh said that Suwondo's ill health did not stop the police
from detaining him.

"He's a suspect. He'll receive his medical treatment in police
custody," Saleh said.

However, a police source said on Saturday that Suwondo had
spoken of receiving Rp 35 billion in cheques from the
subordinates of former Bulog deputy chief, Sapuan, who is being
tried at the South Jakarta District Court for his alleged
involvement in the Bulog scandal.

"He has confessed to receiving the cheques, but has not
implicated the name of the President as yet. He needs his rest
first," the source said.

"He has admitted that after cashing the cheques, he spent some
money on cars, a house and other things, but then eventually
became agitated and confused, particularly after news reports
which, he said, seemed to corner him."

Police are treating the 43-year-old Suwondo as a "high-risk"
suspect, and despite their claims that he is at the City Police
detention center, officers at the center told reporters that no
new prisoner named Suwondo had been admitted there.

A source has told The Jakarta Post that Suwondo was being
interrogated at a police safe house near the Cilandak police
subprecinct in South Jakarta.

Even as sources outside the police force claim that Suwondo
surrendered himself to the police, Police Mobile Detectives
(Resmob) maintained that they arrested him after a week-long
observation conducted after receiving information that Suwondo
had returned to his villa in Cisarua.

"He never surrendered. We arrested him," Saleh said.

The scandal revolves around the disbursement of Rp 35 billion
from the Bulog employee-owned Yanatera foundation this January,
allegedly at the behest of the President.

The funds were disbursed by Sapuan and handed over to Suwondo,
who reportedly kept Rp 10 billion for himself, and distributed
another Rp 5 billion to businesswoman Siti Farika, who has family
links with the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) Muslim organization and who,
like Suwondo's wife Teti Nursetiati, has returned the money back
to the police.

Another Rp 15 billion went to a bank account of Suko Sudarso,
an official of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI
Perjuangan), and Rp 5 billion to Leo Purnomo, a staff member at
Air Wagon (Awair) air freight service.

So far, only Rp 16.5 billion has been returned to Yanatera.

Sapuan said during initial hearings at the District Court that
Gus Dur had personally told him in January that the Rp 35 billion
was needed for the purpose of humanitarian aid in riot-torn Aceh.

Separately, House of Representatives (DPR) Speaker Akbar
Tandjung said on Sunday that he would demand that the police
allow the House's special committee to interrogate Suwondo.

"They should be allowed to investigate the case... this is
really good progress," Akbar said.

The special committee members, which includes legislators
Didiek Suprianto of the PDI Perjuangan faction and Alvin Lie of
the Reform Party faction, visited Jakarta Police chief Sr. Supt.
Nurfaizi on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Saleh said that interrogation by DPR special
committee members depended on police investigators.

"If police investigators are done with Suwondo, the special
committee can go ahead. Otherwise, why would police investigators
allow it? It is no more in my hands or the hands of Pak Nurfaizi.
It's up to police investigators," Saleh said.

Suwondo was arrested at his posh villa in the Tugu village of
Cisarua, Bogor, at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday.

Police detectives, headed by Asst. Supt. Tito Karnavian, claim
to have raided Suwondo's house, where they found him asleep,
Saleh said.

He said his male maidservant, Lukman, who usually did
Suwondo's grocery shopping for him, was also present.

"He has been saying really funny things... he said that in his
confusion, he had gone on foot from Bogor to the Southern Java
Sea, and then to Parangtritis beach near Yogyakarta," Saleh said.

At Parangtritis, Saleh said, Suwondo told police that he had
found a huge cave, where he meditated for three days, surviving
on food left by the cave's visitors.

"This all sounds unreal... we don't even know whether he had
gone abroad or not. We have to wait until he's calmer, to start
interrogating him," he said. (ylt)