KEY POINTS:
New South Wales police ordered staff at a Sydney hotel to open the door to the room where a senior Indonesian politician, Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso, was staying, hotel staff say.
Mr Sutiyoso demanded an apology from Australia after a NSW police officer approached him on Tuesday afternoon and invited him to give evidence at an inquest into the death of one of the so-called Balibo Five newsmen in East Timor in 1975.
Mr Sutiyoso, who was a guest of the NSW Government, accused police of using a master key to enter his room to deliver the coroner's request.
Deputy state coroner Dorelle Pinch, who is presiding over the Balibo inquest, said after speaking with the officer assisting the inquest, Detective Sergeant Steve Thomas, she was assured there had been no unauthorised access to the room.
Yesterday, a spokeswoman for the Shangri-La Hotel said police arrived with identification and documentation and asked to be taken to Mr Sutiyoso's room.
"And then a senior member of staff went up to the room with the police and the doorbell was rung on several occasions and then they proceeded to go into the room [with a master key] ... "
A spokeswoman for the NSW Coroner's Court said the officer had been in possession of a subpoena for the general, but that it had not been served. "Instead, a verbal invitation was issued to attend the inquest and he [Mr Sutiyoso] declined."
NSW Police Minister David Campbell has asked for a report on the incident from the NSW Police Force.
"In the meantime, an officer attached to the coronial investigation unit is the subject of departmental inquiry into the circumstances surrounding his contact with the Governor of Jakarta," a police statement said.
- AAP
