Court summons police officers

Hasyim Widhiarto ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Fri, 11/13/2009 11:00 AM  |  Headlines

Steal the show: Former golf caddie Rhani Juliani leaves the South Jakarta District Court on Thursday after testifying in her husband’s murder case. JP/Wendra Ajistyatama

The judge in antigraft official Antasari Azhar’s trial has told prosecutors to present high-ranking police officers whom witness Sr. Comr. Wiliardi Wizard claims forced him to give false testimony.

“We ordered the prosecutors to present those who had been named by the witness [in the previous hearing] at the next Tuesday’s hearing,” presiding judge Herri Swantoro said Thursday before adjourning the hearing at the South Jakarta District Court.

Former Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) chairman Antasari is on trial for the murder of state pharmaceutical company director Nasruddin Zulkarnaen.

Nasruddin was killed in a drive-by shooting outside the Modernland golf course in Tangerang in March this year.

Antasari’s lawyers initially moved for the postponement of the officers’ testimonies, saying the court still had dozens of other witnesses to question.

Herri overruled the motion, saying he did not want to “lose any momentum” in the trial.

In Tuesday’s hearing, Wiliardi, a former South Jakarta Police chief, stunned all and sundry with his claim that he had been coerced by police investigators to fall in line with a plot to frame Antasari.

“The dossiers containing my testimony were all rigged by the police,” he said Tuesday.

“I agreed with the content [of the dossiers] after some high-ranking police officers approached me about it.”

Among the officers he named were former National Police deputy chief detective Insp. Gen. Hadiatmoko and former Jakarta Police chief detective Sr. Comr. M. Iriawan.

Wiliardi’s testimony is the latest slap in the face for the police force, which has been widely lambasted for not dropping bribery, extortion and abuse of power charges leveled against suspended KPK deputies Bibit Samad Rianto and Chandra M. Hamzah, and for not arresting Anggodo Widjojo, the central figure in the alleged framing of both KPK deputies.

Besides Hadiatmoko and Iriawan, lead prosecutor Cirus Sinaga said his team was ready to bring forward other high-ranking officers who had questioned Wiliardi during the drafting of his testimony.

Thursday’s hearing saw Antasari lawyers raise doubts about the written statement taken by police from Nasruddin’s father-in-law, as several discrepancies cropped up.

The lawyers asked Endang Muhammad Hasan, the father of Nasruddin’s third wife, Rhani Juliani, whether he knew of the affair between Antasari and Rhani.

Endang said he did not, adding neither his daughter nor Nasruddin ever spoke to him about their domestic issues.

“But in your written statement it says you knew that Nasruddin had caught Rhani and Antasari red-handed in a hotel room,” said defense lawyer Juniver Girsang.

Visibly taken aback, Endang replied that he had never told police investigators anything of the sort.

“I checked the entire statement first before signing it, and I never saw that particular bit in there,” he said, followed by loud whoops from those in the public gallery.

Juniver’s next question saw Endang reveal he had been questioned by police in an apartment, while his statement read that he had been questioned at a police station, casting further suspicion on the authenticity of the written statement.

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