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President to summon police chief over Gayus

Gayus Tambunan: JP President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will question National Police chief Gen

The Jakarta Post
Jakarta
Tue, November 16, 2010

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President to summon police chief over Gayus

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span class="inline inline-left">Gayus Tambunan: JP President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will question National Police chief Gen. Timur Pradopo over graft defendant Gayus Tambunan’s recent illicit outings, a presidential spokesman said Monday.

Spokesman Julian Aldrin Pasha said the President would first hear Timur’s explanation. The meeting was scheduled for Tuesday, he said.

“The President is not apathetic about what happened [with Gayus],” Julian was quoted as saying by Antara news agency.

Graft suspect Gayus Tambunan ended days of speculation on Monday when he admitted he was the person in a widely spread photograph of a man watching a tennis match in Bali, taken at a time when he was supposed to be in police custody.

Gayus admitted before a panel of judges during a session of his trial at the South Jakarta District Court on Monday that he had left the detention center for Bali for “refreshment”.

The former low-ranking tax officer is standing trial for allegedly bribing police detectives and a judge in exchange for being freed of charges of abetting tax evasion.

“I really apologize to you, madam chairwoman [of the panel of judges] and members for leaving the detention center. It meant nothing. I just miss my family,” Gayus told the panel of judges presided over by Albertina Ho just before the latter ended the trial session.

“I just wanted some refreshment. I’ve been very stressed,” he added as quoted by Kompas.com.

Shedding tears, Gayus said he had tried to appear calm to hide his true feelings: which were of guilt for his deeds.

“Outside people may see me laughing, but that doesn’t mean I’m not sorry. Inside, I am sorry. I cover it up with laughs so that people do not know,” he added.

The National Police have named Gayus a suspect Sunday for bribing wardens to be allowed regular jaunts away from his cell at the Mobile Brigade detention center in Kelapa Dua, Depok, West Java.

The nine wardens at the center who have been questioned over Gayus’ outings all said chief warden Comr. Iwan Siswanto had received about Rp 60 million and the other eight between Rp 5 million to Rp 6 million from Gayus, who shelled out a total of Rp 368 million to be allowed to leave his cell.

The nine wardens have also been named suspects.

Presidential staffer Heru Lelono said Yudhoyono had raised Gayus’ case during a meeting with his special staffers at his house in Cikeas on Monday.

Heru said the President had expressed his disappointment. “He thinks it taints Indonesia, it’s very embarrassing.”

Indonesia has been appointed co-chair of the Group of 20 (G20) Working Group on Anticorruption. Heru said Yudhoyono made a speech in a recent G20 meeting in Seoul, South Korea, about the importance of fighting corruption.

The Gayus scandal, he said, was like rubbing salt in a wound.

Gayus recent illicit jaunts have redirected attention to the special treatment enjoyed by many rich convicts at detention centers in Indonesia.

 

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