The Jakarta Post

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Secretary says she falsified letter

JAKARTA: The secretary of Garuda Indonesia chief pilot Rohainil Aini testified Tuesday that she falsified an assignment letter a few days after the Sept. 7, 2004 death of Munir Said Thalib on a Garuda Airways flight to Amsterdam.

Aini told the Central Jakarta District Court that under the instructions of former pilot Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto, she changed the date of an assignment letter for Pollycarpus from Sept. 15 to Sept. 4, 2004, to show that he was going to Singapore as a corporate security staffer of Garuda Airways on Sept. 6. Pollycarpus has said he was acting on orders of the chief pilot, Karmel Fauza Sembiring.

Aini was testifying before a panel of judges trying former Garuda Airways president Indra Gunawan for conspiracy to commit murder. She is standing trial in separate sessions on the same charge.

During Tuesday's trial session, chief pilot Karmel Fauza Sembiring testified that he had not ordered or authorized the date change.

Pollycarpus, a key witness in the murder case, did not attend Tuesday's session. Presiding judge Heru Pramono adjourned the trial until Dec. 28, when witnesses Hendardi, Mohobob Husein and Ongen Latuihamallo will be heard. -end-