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.