Elza to be summoned as suspect of bribery case next week: Anton
Elza to be summoned as suspect of bribery case next week: Anton
Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
After considering it for some time, the police finally named Elza
Syarief, a lawyer for defendant Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, a
suspect on Thursday for allegedly bribing witnesses in Tommy's
case to lie before the court.
"Elza will be summoned as a suspect next week," City Police
spokesman Sr. Comr. Anton Bachrul Alam told reporters.
Police said Elza bribed several witnesses to induce them to
lie in Tommy's hearing on April 10 in an attempt to cover up
Tommy's connection to illegal possession of firearms and
ammunition found at the Soeharto family's Cemara Apartments in
Central Jakarta.
Elza is accused of violating Article 242 of the Criminal Law
on false testimony, which carries a maximum penalty of seven
years in jail; and Article 2 of Law No. 11/1980 on bribery, which
carries a maximum penalty of five years.
Nudirman Munir, a former lawyer for Tommy, would also be
summoned as a suspect for allegedly obstructing the police
investigation in the bribery case.
Although the country's legal system upholds the presumption of
innocence principle, Elza should step down as Tommy's lawyer out
of respect for her profession, according to Topo Santoso, a
lecturer at the University of Indonesia Law School,
"A lawyer's obligation is to find the truth, not necessarily
to get his or her client off the hook. According to the
profession's ethics, a lawyer has no right to conceal the truth
for any reason whatsoever," Topo told The Jakarta Post.
In fact, chief prosecutor Hasan Madani who is handling Tommy's
case, requested the court last week to suspend Elza as Tommy's
lawyer. But the request was rejected.
Two former security guards at Cemara Apartment, Rahmat Hidayat
and Tatang Somantri, who are now under police detention, admitted
that they had received Rp 2 million each from Elza to retract
their statements made to the police.
"Why didn't the police arrest Ibu Elza, who gave the bribe?
The police officials are not fair," Tatang told reporters at the
police headquarter later on Thursday.
Tatang admitted that he escaped to his hometown in Garut, West
Java, after the police caught Rahmat. A few days later, he
surrendered himself to the police.
Before he left the city, he met Rahmat's lawyer, Nudirman
Munir, who was also Tommy's former lawyer. Munir reportedly tried
to force him to say that he had not received a bribe from Elza
and ordered him to leave the city to avoid the police.
Nudirman will be charged with violating Article 221 of the
Criminal Law on aiding and abetting a criminal or someone who is
needed for an investigation, which carries a maximum penalty of
nine months in jail.