Elza now witness in Tommy case

JAKARTA: Elza Syarief, the lawyer of Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, was summoned by police as a witness in an extortion case involving Tommy, which caused him a total Rp 20 billion in losses.

"The investigators, thus far, have only questioned me over my acquaintance with the suspects," Elza told reporters after she was questioned by police.

The two suspects in the extortion case are Abdullah Sidiq Muin, the leader of an Islamic boarding school in Kediri, East Java and Raden Dodi Sumadi, who is known as Tommy's business colleague.

Elza said that Tommy was asked by both suspects, who served as former president Abdurrahman Wahid's envoys, to provide the money in negotiations for a presidential pardon.

Sidiq and Doddy reportedly helped arrange the controversial meetings between Tommy and then president Abdurrahman at Borobudur and Regent hotels in 2000. --JP