Group of lawyers urge police to detain Elza

Group of lawyers urge police to detain Elza

Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A group of lawyers met the Jakarta Police chief, Insp. Gen.
Makbul Padmanagara, on Thursday to urge the police to charge
Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra's lawyer Elza Syarief as the main
suspect in the bribing of a witness in Tommy's murder trial, and
to immediately detain her.

"We are aghast to learn that a lawyer is suspected of being
involved in a bribery case. This tragic case will tarnish the
image of lawyers in Indonesia," said Palmer Situmorang, spokesman
for the 17 lawyers, who called themselves the Indonesian Lawyers'
Salvation Committee (KPAI).

The lawyers come from various organizations, including the
Indonesian Bar Association (Ikadin), the Association of
Indonesian Advocates (AAI) and the Indonesian Lawyers' Union
(IKPI).

"The police should not only detain the one who received the
bribe, but also the lawyer who bribed him," Palmer said.

He told reporters that they had visited the police chief to
urge him to speed up the investigation into the bribery case.

"If it takes a long time, we're afraid that the public will
begin to assume that lawyers are above the law," said Palmer.

Early on Sunday, the police arrested Rahmat, a security guard
at the Soeharto family's Cemara Apartments in Menteng, Central
Jakarta, for allegedly perjuring himself during the Tommy
Soeharto trial.

During the session in question, Rahmat, as well as two other
witnesses who were also security guards at the apartments, Tatang
Somantri and Laimin, retracted their statements to police and
denied that the signatures on the statements belonged to them.

They showed the court their new ID cards which bore different
signatures. Their signatures on the evidential documents were,
however, the same as on their old ID cards.

On Wednesday, Rahmat admitted publicly that he was paid Rp 2
million by Elza to commit perjury. He said that before the
hearing, Elza asked him and Tatang to come to her office on Jl.
Kramat Sentiong, Central Jakarta, where he received the money.

Tatang and Laimin are still at large.

During the meeting with the city police chief, the KPAI also
voiced their support for the police, saying that Rahmat's
detention had not violated any legal procedures as claimed by
Rahmat's lawyer, Nudirman Munir.

Munir, who was previously also Tommy's lawyer, claimed that
Rahmat could only be arrested on foot of a court order, and has
filed a lawsuit against the police.

But Rahmat on Wednesday said that he knew nothing about the
lawsuit.

Palmer said that the police did not need a court order to
arrest Rahmat because they only found out about the perjury after
the hearing was over.

Chief of the police's Anticorruption Division, Adj. Sr. Comr.
Anton Wahono, said that Elza would be charged as a suspect after
the police had gathered sufficient evidence.

"We are currently still conducting out investigation and have
to question eight witnesses. I've told you that the charging of
Elza as a suspect is just a matter of time," said Anton.