Tommy finds time to testify<\/p>\n
M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
After seven no-shows citing a variety of reasons, convicted felon
\nHutomo \"Tommy\" Mandala Putra, the youngest son of former
\npresident Soeharto, testified on Monday at the Central Jakarta
\nDistrict Court in the extortion trial of Islamic boarding school
\nhead Abdullah Sidiq Muin.<\/p>\n
Tommy, who was escorted to the court from Gatot Subroto Army
\nHospital where a team of 10 doctors had conducted a medical
\ncheckup in the past week, told the courtroom that the real
\nculprit in the extortion case, Raden Dodi Sumadi, must be tried
\nimmediately.<\/p>\n
Sporting a Hawaiian shirt, black trousers and leather sandals,
\nTommy looked in good condition, although doctors had diagnosed
\nhim with a tumor in the eye and a stomach ulcer.<\/p>\n
He was tightly guarded by police and prison guards outside the
\ncourthouse, while journalists and visitors passed through metal
\ndetectors to enter the courtroom.<\/p>\n
\"I don't know Kyai Sidiq, and never did business with him. It
\nwas Dodi who claimed he could get me out of the legal tangle I
\nwas in,\" Tommy told the packed courtroom, referring to the
\ndefendant by his Islamic title.<\/p>\n
Tommy added that Dodi, who claimed to be a close ally of then
\npresident Abdurrahman \"Gus Dur\" Wahid, said he could arrange a
\nmeeting with Gus Dur to discuss presidential clemency for the 18-
\nmonth conviction Tommy had received for corruption.<\/p>\n
For his services, Dodi charged Tommy Rp 15 billion (US$1.78
\nmillion) and shared the money with Sidiq and another Islamic
\nboarding school head, Noer Muhammad Iskandar SQ.<\/p>\n
Dodi's share was reportedly split into three equal parts and
\ndistributed to the Puan Amal Hayati Foundation, owned by Gus
\nDur's wife Sinta Nuriyah, Sidiq's At-Tauhid Islamic Boarding
\nSchool in Kediri, East Java, and to pay for expenses incurred by
\nthe meeting.<\/p>\n
Tommy later discovered that the foundation was fictitious.<\/p>\n
\"Dodi said if I failed to provide the money, I would go to
\njail immediately and all the corruption charges against my family
\nwould proceed,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He paid the money, but his appeal for clemency was rejected.
\nTommy was on the run for over a year before his arrest in
\nNovember 2001.<\/p>\n
Tommy is serving out a 15-year prison term at maximum-security
\nBatu Penitentiary on Nusakambangan Island, Central Java, for
\nillegal possession of arms and masterminding the contract killing
\nof Supreme Court Justice M. Syafiuddin Kartasasmita, who had
\nsentenced him over a separate graft case in 2000.<\/p>\n
Although investigation into the Tommy-Sidiq-Dodi graft case
\nbegan in 2001, the Sidiq's trial began only last October. Dodi is
\nstill at large, but police said his case file had been submitted
\nto the prosecutors' office.<\/p>\n
Speaking after the trial, Sidiq said he had fallen victim of a
\nconspiracy that had pitted him against Tommy. He also said he
\nwould return all the money he had made from the deal if the court
\nordered him to do so.<\/p>\n
After hearing testimony from Wahyu Yuwono -- a Kediri Police
\nofficer who had accompanied Sidiq while he withdrew the bribe
\nmoney from a local bank -- presiding judge Saparudin Hasibuan
\nadjourned the trial until Feb. 24.<\/p>\n
Tommy was flown back to the prison island immediately after
\nthe court session.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/tommy-finds-time-to-testify-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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