No pardon for Tommy: President<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): President Abdurrahman Wahid said that he would
\nnot pardon former president Soeharto's youngest son Hutomo
\n\"Tommy\" Mandala Putra, who has been sentenced to an 18-month jail
\nterm for corruption.<\/p>\n
Asked by journalists on Wednesday upon his arrival at Halim
\nPerdanakusuma airport from a 10-day overseas trip if he would
\npardon Tommy, Abdurrahman said: \"No, no, no\".<\/p>\n
The President, who last month wanted police to arrest Tommy
\nfor his alleged role in a series of bomb blasts in the capital,
\nsaid he had discussed the possibility of clemency with Attorney
\nGeneral Marzuki Darusman on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\"I got a call from the Attorney General when I was in
\nVancouver asking me if we would give clemency ... and I said
\nno,\" Abdurrahman said.<\/p>\n
He added that whether Tommy would be immediately sent to jail
\nor not would be \"up to the Attorney General\".<\/p>\n
Tommy is free at the moment even though the Supreme Court
\noverturned last week an earlier decision and convicted him
\ntogether with his business partner Ricardo Gelael for a Rp 95
\nbillion (US$11 million) land swindle.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, Tommy formally filed an appeal for a presidential
\npardon.<\/p>\n
When asked whether the President would like to see Tommy in
\njail, Abdurrahman simply said: \"It's not a matter of like or
\nnot ... it's about law\".<\/p>\n
Later in the day, State Secretary Djohan Effendy said that so
\nfar there had been no move towards issuing a presidential decree
\non the denial of the appeal.<\/p>\n
The process of issuing the decree, he explained, could be
\nshort or could take some time.<\/p>\n
Attorney General Marzuki said later that his office had to
\nwait for a formal written rejection from the President before
\nthey could lock Tommy in prison.<\/p>\n
Antasari Azhar, chief of the South Jakarta Prosecutor's office
\nwhich is responsible for implementation of the sentence, shared
\nthe same view.<\/p>\n
\"The (President's) statement (alone) cannot serve as a basis
\nto implement the sentence,\" Antasari was quoted by Antara as
\nsaying.<\/p>\n
One of Tommy's lawyers said on Wednesday that he had not yet
\nheard of Abdurrahman's rejection and that the defense team would
\nnot take any action until a presidential decree is issued.<\/p>\n
\"I haven't heard of the rejection. In any case, we will wait
\nfor the presidential decree to be issued on the matter. We will
\nnot risk taking any unnecessary step,\" Bob R.E. Nasution told The
\nJakarta Post on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Another of Tommy's lawyers, Erman Umar, said he had predicted
\nthat Abdurrahman would reject his client's request for pardon.<\/p>\n
\"We have been pessimistic from the beginning that Gus Dur
\nwould grant pardon to our client as he has been eagerly seeking
\nto arrest Tommy,\" Erman said.<\/p>\n
\"We have planned to appeal for a review of the verdict. But
\nthat would be our last measure,\" he added.<\/p>\n
Last month police failed to fulfill Abdurrahman's order to
\ndetain Tommy in connection with the recent bombings in the city,
\nsaying that they had insufficient evidence to do so.<\/p>\n
The land swindle centered on land leased from the National
\nLogistic Agency (Bulog) by a supermarket chain owned partly by
\nTommy in an agreement prosecutors alleged caused losses to the
\ncountry.<\/p>\n
The 1950 law on presidential pardon stipulates that an appeal
\nfor pardon must go through a series of phases before reaching the
\npresident and that the process could take at least one month.<\/p>\n
The law also says that the president could consider inputs
\nfrom the Supreme Court, attorney general and justice minister
\nbefore making a decision.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, Minister of Justice and Human Rights Yusril Ihza
\nMahendra said that the President's decision whether to grant
\npardon or not could be made without considering the Supreme
\nCourt's recommendation.<\/p>\n
Later on Wednesday, human rights activist Teten Masduki
\npraised the President's decision to reject Tommy's appeal for
\npardon but warned against the use of Tommy's case as a \"trade-
\noff\" for the dismissal of the Soeharto trial.<\/p>\n
The South Jakarta district court decided last week to drop all
\ncharges against former president Soeharto after an independent
\nmedical team of 24 doctors declared that he was physically and
\nmentally too ill to stand trial.(byg\/bby\/edt\/ylt)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/no-pardon-for-tommy-president-1447893297",
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