Abdurrahman admits to meeting Tommy
JAKARTA (JP): President Abdurrahman Wahid confirmed on Saturday that he met with Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, but quickly refuted suggestions that he had made a deal to review the 18-month jail sentence handed down to Tommy.
When asked by journalists, Abdurrahman admitted that he had recently met with the youngest son of former president Soeharto at Borobudur Hotel, Central Jakarta.
"He asked that a review be conducted on the Supreme Court verdict," the President said after attending a meeting at the National Awakening Party office here.
The Supreme Court recently sentenced Tommy to 18 months in prison for corruption. Tommy was found guilty of causing losses to the state in a Rp 95.4 billion (US$11.2 million) land exchange deal in 1995 with the State Logistics Agency (Bulog).
The verdict came a day before the South Jakarta District Court dropped corruption charges against Soeharto after deeming medically unfit to stand trial.
Tommy has filled for a presidential pardon and a postponement of the execution of the Supreme Court's verdict.
Abdurrahman stressed on Saturday that he had not made any deal with Tommy concerning the case, and that any legal decision was up to the Supreme Court.
"I told him that it (the review) was the Supreme Court's business, not mine," the President asserted.
"So there's no KKN," he added, referring to collusion, corruption and nepotism.
Abdurrahman would not go into detail about the meeting.
Speculation had been rife in the past few days that Abdurrahman had met with Tommy and cut a deal with the Soeharto family.
The President in the past had disclosed that the government would launch a two pronged offensive against the Soeharto family -- the first would be through a formal legal process by bringing Soeharto to court, while the second would be through private negotiations, led by Coordinating Minister for Political, Security and Social Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, to return the alleged ill-gotten wealth amassed by the family during Soeharto's rule.
Many suspected that the meeting was part of this arrangement.
Sources close to the President told The Jakarta Post that as many as two meetings may have been held with Soeharto's youngest son between Oct. 5 to Oct. 8.
In at least one of the meetings Tommy's elder sister, Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana, was believed to have attended.
Sources also hinted that an initial figure of about $5 billion had been put forward as a possible condition for considering a presidential pardon.
In June, Abdurrahman boasted that some $25 billion of Soeharto's wealth could be returned to the state. Soeharto has denied allegations that he has abundant wealth.
On a separate matter, Abdurrahman reasserted that he would not heed a summons by the House of Representatives special commission investigating a scandal involving a $2 million donation he received from the Brunei sultan.
"If they summon me I will not come. Why should I bother with it while there's other (more important) things to do," he asserted.
The President also brushed aside suggestions that he would resign from the Shimon Peres Foundation amid public outcry at heightened tension in the Middle East. (byg/mds)