‘Manohara’s mum on Interpol arrest list’
By Minderjeet Kaur, NST
KUALA LUMPUR: The Mano-hara Odelia Pinot drama has taken a new twist with a diplomat stating the mother, Daisy Fajarina, is on the Interpol wanted list.
Brata Mandala, a senior police liaison officer with the Indonesian embassy here, said this could be the reason Daisy was denied entry into Malaysia.
His comments reported by Indonesia's respected website detik.com yesterday were, however, immediately challenged by Daisy's lawyer who argued that she would have been arrested in Indonesia or Singapore if she were on the list.
Daisy had tried to enter Malaysia on March 19 but was denied entry at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
She later claimed this was on "instructions" because Manohara was being held against her will by her husband, Kelantan prince Tengku Mu-hammad Fakhry Petra.
Manohara, 17-year-old former model, has claimed she made a dramatic dash to freedom from Tengku Fakhry last Sunday during the royal family's trip to Singapore to visit the sick Kelantan sultan.
Brata later confirmed with NST that Daisy was on the French Interpol wanted list for commercial crime but her lawyer could not search or find her name because it was under "local area network" jurisdiction, and only accessible to Interpol or police.
Brata had told Indonesian journalists that Daisy had been on Interpol's "Red Notice" for the past one year. "This means she could be arrested anywhere."
Brata said he confirmed this when he went to the KLIA to help get Daisy released by Malaysian Immigration officers.
"Daisy told me of her criminal case that is waiting to be heard in France. She also told me her husband was imprisoned in France."
Brata said he first learnt about Daisy after he received a call on March 15 from Indonesian police to help her lodge a report with the Malaysian police on her daughter's alleged abuse by her husband.
On March 19, Daisy called him to say she had been arrested at the KLIA.
Brata said a senior liaison officer with the French police, who is also with Interpol, had later asked him, during a forum in Jakarta, whether Daisy could be arrested and sent to France.
"But I refused. This was to protect Daisy because I did not want to hand her to foreigners," he said, adding that Indonesia and France did not have a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty.
The Indonesian press has gone to town with the Manohara case, with claims of sexual, physical and emotional abuse of the former teen model, who has been married to the Kelantan prince for only about a year.
Her account has, however, been challenged by several people claiming to be friends of Tengku Fakhry.
On Wednesday, the Kelantan palace issued a statement distancing itself from these men, saying that their statements were made in their personal capacity.