Police Chief Appreciates Susno For His Surrender

Situbondo, E Java, May 3 (Antara) - National Police Chief General Timur Pradopo has appreciated former National Police chief detective retired Comr. Gen. Susno Duadji who has surrendered to law enforcers to serve his jail term. "We thank Pak (Mr) Susno for having handed over himself. This all will follow the legal process," the National Police chief said here on Friday. The police chief said that the execution of Susno`s sentence had been reported to the president. Susono Duadji, who is a former head of Police Headquarters` Investigation Department (Bareskrim), surrendered to the prosecutors for the execution of his jail term in Cibinong prison. "The execution process was carried out Thursday night at 11.10 pm local time by four prosecutors," Attorney General Basrief Arief said on Friday. On Thursday evening, at about 2.30 pm, the attorney general received Untung Sunaryo, who claimed to be a lawyer of Susno`s family. "Untung informed that Pak Susno was prepared to have his sentence executed but only by prosecutors directly appointed by the attorney general. Of course I welcome it," explained Basrief. The attorney general then assigned the head of the Jakarta High Prosecutor Office and the acting head of the South Jakarta Prosecutor Office to carry out the execution. "We did not tell anyone regarding the plan. The two chief prosecutors were asked to take executing prosecutors, but it should not exceed four people. They then took Pak Susno based on the convict`s request to Cibinong prison," said Basrief. Susno, who was sentenced to 3.5 years` imprisonment for by the Jakarta district court, has been declared a fugitive by the Attorney General`s Office after refusing execution. The South Jakarta District Court convicted Susno of two counts of corruption in March of 2011, sentencing the once-prominent cop to three years and six months in prison. He was found guilty of misappropriating Rp8 billion ($823,000) in security funds in 2008 for the West Java gubernatorial election when he served as chief of the provincial police force. He also accepted a Rp500 million bribe to influence the outcome of a legal dispute over the ownership of a Riau fish farm in 2009. Susno had appealed the verdict to the higher court and the Supreme Court but both appeals were rejected. The higher courts, however, did not immediately order for him to be sent to jail. The Attorney General`s Office and West Java prosecution office failed to arrest Susno in his house in Bandung, West Java, after the regional police interfered. After the incident last week, Susno was in hiding and the attorney general office declared him a fugitive. Police had been involved in locating Susno`s hiding place, but the seriousness of police in bringing Susno to jail had been doubted.