Tommy Suharto, the arrested youngest son of the former Indonesian dictator, faced another long session of questioning today but police ruled out charging members of the Suharto clan for allegedly harboring him while he was a fugitive.
Tommy would be questioned further about accusations that he had ordered the murder of a Supreme Court judge and for alleged possession of firearms, his lawyer Mr Elza Syarif said.
Mr Tito Karnavian, head of the Jakarta police major crime unit, said police would not press charges against members of the Suharto family - who reportedly harbored him for three months in their plush central Jakarta neighborhood while he was a fugitive.
"Under Indonesian law, family members are allowed to protect a fugitive. It's stated in the criminal code," Mr Karnavian said.
After more than a year on the run, the former millionaire playboy was arrested on November 28th.
Mr Karnavian was earlier quoted by Tempomagazine as saying that during his flight from justice, Tommy spent three months in the Suharto family complex and was in constant contact with his wife, Tata, and other relatives and friends.
Tommy, 39, failed to turn himself in on November 3rd last year to serve an 18-month jail sentence for corruption. On October 1st this year another Supreme Court panel caused a storm of controversy by quashing the corruption conviction.
But police have declared Tommy a suspect for the drive-by murder in July of Judge Syafiuddin Kartasasmita, who had ordered him jailed for graft.
They say he is also suspected of possessing weapons and explosives and of involvement in a spate of bombings in Jakarta in recent years. All the crimes are punishable by death.
AFP