Tommy to appear on Monday, ready to serve time: Lawyer<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Former president Soeharto's youngest son Hutomo
\n\"Tommy\" Mandala Putra will appear at the prosecutor's office on
\nMonday to be taken to Cipinang prison to begin serving his 18-
\nmonth jail term for corruption, his lawyer said on Saturday.<\/p>\n
\"I have been informed that Tommy will be ready, with his
\nlawyers, to appear at the South Jakarta Prosecutor's Office on
\nMonday at about 9 a.m.,\" Tommy's lawyer Erman Umar told The
\nJakarta Post in a telephone interview.<\/p>\n
Tommy went missing after an arrest warrant was issued on
\nFriday and was declared a fugitive.<\/p>\n
Erman denied, however, suggestions that Tommy had tried to
\nflee.<\/p>\n
\"I cannot confirm whether he was out of town or not
\nyesterday (Friday) ... that is possible ... but what I can say
\nright now is that he was not trying to escape,\" Erman said.<\/p>\n
\"I have been informed that as of Saturday afternoon he (Tommy)
\nis in Jakarta,\" he added.<\/p>\n
Erman said Tommy left his residence in Menteng, Central
\nJakarta, on Friday because \"as of 2 p.m. my client had not
\nreceived a copy of the presidential decree\".<\/p>\n
Erman was referring to President Abdurrahman Wahid's rejection
\nof a clemency appeal by his client.<\/p>\n
Tommy's lawyers have repeatedly claimed that the execution of
\nthe jail sentence could only be implemented if a copy of the
\npresidential decree was in their client's hands.<\/p>\n
Tommy and his business partner Ricardo Gelael were sentenced
\nto 18 months in jail in late September when the Supreme Court
\noverturned two lower court verdicts and found them guilty of
\ncorruption in a land scam.<\/p>\n
Ricardo surrendered to authorities on Friday night and began
\nserving his 18-month sentence.<\/p>\n
Tommy has denied any wrongdoing and has filed an appeal
\nagainst the verdict, which overturned his acquittal in a lower
\ncourt several months earlier.<\/p>\n
An arrest warrant was issued on Friday after a last minute
\nglitch in paperwork. However, prosecutors and police found no
\nsign of Tommy when they arrived at his residence.<\/p>\n
Earlier in the day, President Abdurrahman Wahid called on the
\npublic to remain calm following Friday night's failure to send
\nTommy to prison.<\/p>\n
\"President Abdurrahman Wahid appeals for public patience as
\nthe state apparatus are still continuing efforts to find Tommy's
\nwhereabouts and put him in jail,\" Abdurrahman said in a statement
\nissued by the presidential secretary's office.<\/p>\n
Outside the Cipinang prison on Saturday about 60 former
\ninmates staged a protest demanding Tommy and Ricardo be given the
\nsame treatment as ordinary prisoners.<\/p>\n
If jailed, Tommy will be the first from the Soeharto family to
\nbe put behind bars since his father stepped down in May 1998.<\/p>\n
Tommy, along with his five siblings, controls some of the
\ncountry's biggest conglomerates, which were allegedly obtained by
\nusing their father's power prior to his fall.(01\/byg)<\/p>",
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