Elza facing detention over bribery

Rendi A. Witular , The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

City Police officers are gathering evidence to name Elza Syarief, Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra's lawyer, as the main suspect in the bribery of witnesses during Tommy's trial.

"Currently we are still gathering additional evidence which could lead to her detention," the police spokesman, Comr. Anton Bachrul Alam, said on Wednesday.

"The summoning of Elza is only a matter of time now," he added.

Elza will be summoned following the confession of Rahmat Hidayat, a witness in Tommy's case, who admitted that Elza had paid her to commit perjury during the court hearing.

Rahmat, a former security guard at the Soeharto family's Cemara Apartments in Menteng, Central Jakarta, was arrested on Sunday at 1 a.m.

Earlier on Wednesday, Rahmat admitted publicly that he was paid Rp 2 million by Elza.

During the court hearing last week, Rahmat, and two other witnesses, Tatang Somantri and Laimin, retracted their statements before the police and denied that the signatures on the statements belonged to them.

In the police dossiers, they said the firearms found in the Cemara Apartments belonged to Tommy.

According to Rahmat, prior to giving testimony at the court, Elza asked him to come to her office on Jl. Kramat Sentiong, Central Jakarta.

"Ibu Elza told me not to acknowledge my signature on the dossier. For that lie I was paid Rp 2 million, but I've already spent it on household goods," he said, adding that he was sorry for what he did.

He went with his colleague Tatang to Elza's office.

Tatang and Laimin were also security guards at the Cemara Apartments, and are currently fugitives.

Rahmat also said he knew nothing about the lawsuit filed by his lawyer Nudirman Munir against the police. Nurdiman had claimed that the police violated legal procedures during Rahmat's arrest.