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Indonesian Police Extends Searching Area for Soeharto's Son
After failing to find Indonesian former president Soeharto's youngest son, Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, in Jakarta, Chief of the Indonesian National Police (Polri) General S. Bimantoro ordered his men on Thursday to extend searching area for the fugitive nationwide as well as asked for help from the public to catch him.
"I order, not just the Jakarta Regional Police, but all regional police in Indonesia, to find out Tommy and enlist him into the list of the most wanted men," Bimantoro was quoted by Antara news agency as saying. He also urged Tommy to give up to the local police where he perhaps was taking shelter.
"The police will (try to) catch Tommy as soon as possible," the police chief promised.
Bimantoro said earlier that after five days of raids since November 3, his men still have no idea on the hiding place of Tommy who was found guilty in a high profile graft scandal.
He said the police has been intensifying its efforts to catch the fugitive who repeatedly ignored deadlines to give up after his appeal for a pardon being rejected by incumbent president Abdurrahman Wahid on November 2.
He also asked Tommy's relatives to surrender the 38-year-old man to the local police.
Hutomo "Tommy" refused to serve 18 months in jail after being found guilty by the country's Supreme Court in a multi-million land scam graft scandal involving the State Logistic Agency (Bulog) in 1997 which was believed to have caused around US$11 million in losses to the state. Tommy also was order by the court to pay an equivalent of US$3.5 million in fine.
Tommy's residence and his relatives have been ransacked by police the day before but the most wanted man could not be found, while his lawyers refused to say a word on their client's whereabouts, though they insisted Tommy was still in Jakarta.
Meanwhile, Tommy's pictures were disseminated through the capital and other big cities in the country to facilitate the public from identifying the ex-young playboy.
Attorney General Marzuki Darusman said that President Abdurrahman Wahid was also "unhappy" as Tommy has ignored the law, asking police to be more serious in searching the fugitive.
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