Former model gets four months for harboring Tommy

Former model gets four months for harboring Tommy

Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang

Former model Sandi Harun received a four-month jail sentence on
Tuesday for harboring former president Soeharto's fugitive son,
Hutomo Tommy Mandala Putra, while another woman and her son
received five months and four months respectively in the same
case.

The Tangerang District court said in the verdict that Rossana
Hasan Razak, 55, her son Bill Haq bin Hasan Razak, 25, and Sandi
Harun, 37, whose real name is Regina Ursula Sandi binti Harun
Alrasid Wirasaputra, 37, were guilty of deliberately hiding
Tommy, who was on the run from September 2000 to November 2001.

The billionaire playboy was arrested while taking a nap at
Rossana's house in Bintaro Jaya housing estate in Tangerang on
Nov. 28 last year.

According to the court the idea to hide Tommy in Rossana's
house came from Sandi, who is also the former wife of businessman
Setiawan Djodi. However, Rossana, the widow of a high-ranking
military officer, received a heavier sentence because she could
have simply turned down Sandi's request.

The case was handled by presiding judge Zainal Arifin,
accompanied by M. Soleh Mokoginta and Agus Budiarto.

The defendants stated they would appeal against the verdict.
But none of them was willing to talk to reporters, who followed
them to their car.

"I will answer all questions at a media conference we
are going to hold at a house in Cileungsi, Bogor, West Java, in a
while. Please register yourself if you want to come," Sandi said.

Earlier, after the prosecutor had read out the sentence
demand, Sandi said she was looking forward to being jailed
because she wanted to get a decent night's sleep as the case had
made her sick.

Sandi and the other defendants, however, were not detained.
Even though the court handed down guilty verdicts, the three are
still free because the judges did not order them to go to prison
directly. As the defendants have stated that they would appeal,
the decision to put them in jail is in the hands of the higher
court. The appeal process could take many years.

Prosecutor Puji Raharjo, who had earlier sought a seven-month
jail term for each defendant, said he would consider whether or
not to appeal.

Tommy escaped after he was sentenced by the Supreme Court to
18 months in jail in September 2000 for graft.

While Tommy was on the run, Supreme Court justice M.
Syafiuddin Kartasasmita, one of the judges who had
sentenced him, was shot dead.

He is now serving a 15-year-old jail term at a prison at
Nusakambangan island, Central Java, for masterminding
Syafiuddin's murder, illegal possession of firearms and fleeing
justice.

Tommy was summoned several times to testify as a key witness
in the trial at the Tangerang District Court, but never showed
up.