Police chief wants early trial for prime suspects
By Darren Goodsir in Nusa Dua, Bali
December 19 2002
The head of the Indonesian police team investigating the Bali bombings,
General I Made (pronn.merde.) Mangku Pastika, said yesterday he was pushing
to get trials of alleged masterminds of the atrocities before hearings of
the "secondary" figures.
This would mean that the principal accused - Mukhlas, Imam Samudra and
Amrozi - would appear within weeks.
This would help, in a tactical sense, General Pastika said, to convince
local and international observers of the integrity of the inquiry, the
strength of the evidence, and the huge reach of
terrorist cells.
However, he said it was also important for the trials to remain in Bali,
despite pressure for the cases to be returned to Jakarta, because there was
more judicial certainty about a guilty result on the island.
"For the safety and security of Bali, the trials must be held in Bali," he
said. "I believe if the trials are not held in Bali, there will be a riot.
We have to strike while the iron is hot."
Authorities in Bali were "very confident" of a guilty verdict, he said,
"because the evidence is very strong and the political will of the
Government is very strong to support us."
Although details about the conduct of the hearing are still to be finalised
with Bali prosecutors, General Pastika said he envisaged witnesses would be
called.
With the charting of forensic evidence, statements from victims of the
attacks on the Sari Club and Paddy's Irish Pub taken in the past eight
weeks by the Australian Federal Police were also likely to come before the
judges.
It is understood General Pastika is being considered by officials from the
office of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, for some form of honour, or
award, to acknowledge his outstanding leadership of the investigation,
which has so far resulted in 15 arrests. He is also being profiled by Time
magazine.
Meanwhile, the federal Justice Minister, Senator Chris Ellison, said it was
too early to canvass possible changes to government policy, which has
traditionally barred law enforcement co-operation on cases where offenders
face the death penalty.
"This is a matter for consideration by the Government on another day," he
said, though he stressed that the Bali attacks were a separate issue. "We
will provide any assistance that is asked of us."
Delegates from more than 33 nations, meeting in Bali for a regional money
laundering and terrorist financing summit during the past two days, signed
a declaration yesterday to improve the transfer of intelligence and moved
to toughen rules and laws to detect suspicious cash transactions more easily.
http://smh.com.au/articles/2002/12/18/1040174292995.html
Dum Dum bullet,andy Downer reckons there could be a danger of over 80 bill
racing through offshore banks in places like Nahru several years ago.He
wants the stable doors firmly shut.
The law spoke firmly recently about the rooking of many ANZ bank customers
over the years.It fined the bank 6 million$ au dollars,( about 3 US)
Banks profits last year were in the billions btw.
Getting back to the story,isn't it comforting to know a verdict in advance?
Think how much this could save in needless trial expenses!