Susno remains in Bandung, campaigning for 2014

Ina Parlina, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Headlines | Mon, April 29 2013, 9:16 AM

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In an apparent move to mock the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) effort to arrest him, graft convict and former National Police detective chief Comr. Gen. (ret) Susno Duadji remained in Bandung, West Java, where he was busy meeting his supporters for his legislative bid in 2014.

As of Sunday, Susno remained a free man in spite of an order from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono for the law enforcement agencies to send him to prison.

Susno also remains free despite the Supreme Court in November last year upholding a guilty verdict with a three-and-a-half-year prison term for accepting bribes and misappropriating election security funds.

Last Friday, Yudhoyono summoned National Police chief Gen. Timur Pradopo and Attorney General Basrief Arief to have a meeting with him at the Halim Perdanakusuma Airport in East Jakarta to discuss prosecutors’ failure to put Susno behind bars.

Shortly after the meeting, the AGO and the police decided to start a manhunt for Susno. The two institutions have also called on the Law and Human Rights Ministry to aid them in tracking down Susno.

One of Susno’s defense lawyers, Fredrich Yunadi, told The Jakarta Post on Sunday that in spite of the manhunt, Susno could roam free in Bandung, meeting with his supporters from the electoral district where he would contend in next year’s legislative election.

Susno is with the Muslim-based Crescent Star Party (PBB) to represent West Java I electoral district.

Fredrich also denied that Susno was in hiding.

“His men told me earlier today that he was having a meeting with his constituents in Bandung today [Sunday],” Fredrich said.

He said that Susno only escaped from attempts by the law enforcement agencies to do him wrong.

The defense lawyer said that he could remain free until the law enforcement agencies put all other convicts who remained free behind bars.

“And why bother going to prison if many other convicts with similar execution orders can remain free. We are knowledgeable about the law, the verdict is null and void,” he said.

Lili Pintauli Siregar, a commissioner with the Witness and Victims Protection Agency (LPSK), said that the agency did not know the whereabouts of Susno although the former police general had been under the agency’s protection since 2010.

But the LPSK would cooperate with the law enforcement agencies in an effort to arrest him.

“Of course we will give the law enforcers the information [about Susno’s whereabouts]; we will coordinate with them. In fact, we already sent them a letter in February to inform them that we are open to such coordination,” she told the Post.

The National Police have reportedly put Susno on their wanted list just recently.

Media reports have said that Susno could be in one of his five luxurious houses in Jakarta, Bandung or Palembang, South Sumatra.

On Wednesday last week, dozens of police officers from West Java Police aided the effort of Susno to stave off prosecutors who went to his residence in Bandung, West Java, to take him to prison.

The police later gave protection to the disgraced former police general at the West Java Police headquarters. PBB Advisory Board Chairman Yusril Ihza Mahendra, a former law and human rights minister, was also present to help deal with the prosecutors.

The incident was the second time Susno managed to evade prosecutors wanting to make him serve his jail term.

Fredrich suspected that the second arrest against him was politically motivated, given his status as a whistleblower.

The South Jakarta District Court found Susno guilty in March 2011 of accepting bribes and misappropriating election security funds for the 2008 West Java election and sentenced him to three-and-a-half years in jail.

The cases were reportedly cooked up soon after he was fired from his position as the detective chief and decided to become a whistleblower, by leaking information about corrupt practices involving the tax office, the National Police, the AGO and numerous domestic and foreign companies.

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