Todung's office burglarized, documents missing

Todung's office burglarized, documents missing

JAKARTA (JP): Prominent lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis's office in
Wisma Bank Dharmala on Jl. Sudirman, South Jakarta, was burgled
before dawn on Monday.

Todung, who is defending Time weekly in a libel dispute with
the Soehartos and, among others, is an executive of a general
election monitoring body and the Indonesian Corruption Watch
(ICW), said that several documents and US$2,000 and Rp 2 million
($225) were missing from his desk.

"I don't care about the money, but my only concern is my
documents," said Todung, a senior lawyer at the Lubis, Maulana
and Santosa law firm which occupies 13 rooms on the fifth floor
of the 20-story building.

Police are still in the dark about the burglary that allegedly
took place between 1:30 a.m. and 3:30 a.m. at the building, which
is tightly secured.

The exact number of culprits is unknown. Three other rooms,
belonging to Todung's other partners -- Leilana Santosa and
Maulana, as well as the company's cashier -- were left in
disarray.

Items missing from the three other rooms were not yet
disclosed.

According to Todung, who was informed of the burglary at 10:30
a.m., the culprits were apparently searching for specific
documents as all documents available in the office were sifted
through.

"I'm sure that they're 'high class' burglars, who don't like
my work at Unfrel (the University Forum for Free and Fair
Elections), ICW, Panwaslu (the national Supervisory Elections
Committee) and as the lawyer of Time magazine," he told reporters
at the office, which was still being examined by police forensic
experts.

At the moment, Todung is the national coordinator for Unfrel,
a deputy chairman of Panwaslu and a deputy chairman of the ICW
Ethical Board.

He is also a lawyer for prominent businessmen such as Sofyan
Wanandi and Arifin Panigoro and political scientist Jeffrey
Winters.

"I suspect that there must be something behind this burglary,"
he said.

"And I'm really sad about it," he said, adding that he had
previously received a series of threats from unidentified people.

Todung told the media that he was unable to reveal details of
the stolen documents, saying that he still had to check them
first.

"A diskette containing data about the dispute between Time and
former president Soeharto was not taken (by the burglars),
although it just laid on my table," he said.

The diskette has a label with the word "Time" written in black
ink on it.

"They could have indeed stolen other valuable things in my
room, for example paintings of popular artists Nyoman Gunarsa and
Rusli.

"But, they did not do it," he said.

The lawyer said that the burglary at his office was therefore
politically inclined, instead of merely a criminal case.

"It's a kind of intimidation to suppress my efforts in
enforcing the law.

"However, I've reached a point of no return in my struggle to
uphold the law here. I will not retreat," Todung asserted.

He said he was visiting a polling station in Pademangan
district in North Jakarta to oversee the voting process on Monday
morning when his wife called to inform him of the burglary.

Sections of the ceiling above the rooms of Leliana's office,
the front desk, his office and the finance division had been
removed.

He therefore speculated that the culprits got into the office
through the ceiling.

According to Agus Nusi, one of the on-duty security guards at
the building, he first examined the office at about 1:30 a.m. but
found nothing suspicious until he passed again at the site two
hours later.

"I found pieces of the ceiling tiles on the floor," Nusi said.

His chief, J. Sagala, said that upon receiving the report, he
hastily ordered four personnel to temporarily safeguard the
office before reporting the case to the police.

Sagala insisted that the only entrance to the building was the
one in the lobby. Anyone who entered the building would have been
seen by one of the 14 security personnel on duty at that time, he
said.

"The burglars were believed to have already been inside the
building before damaging the ceiling tile located at the entrance
of the office," he said.

But Sagala admitted all of the building's circuit televisions
could only monitor the view but not make a recording.

"We asked for service two weeks ago but it has never been
done," he said.

City police chief Maj. Gen. Noegroho Djajoesman said police
were still building the case and would not draw any immediate
conclusions.

Even if the suspected burglars would be apprehended later, the
police would first "charge them with a criminal violation of
breaking and entering and theft of the belongings," Noegroho
said. (asa/ylt/emf)