HAPI to probe Elza over bribery
Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Indonesian Advocates and Lawyers Association (HAPI) announced on Friday that it will launch an investigation next week into the alleged bribery of one of its members, Elza Syarief, who is also a lawyer of Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra.
Elza is believed to have paid several witnesses in Tommy's trial to lie before the court, and to have attempted to bribe the late Supreme Court Justice M. Syafiuddin Kartasasmita, who was allegedly killed upon Tommy's order, after ruling against him.
The general secretary of HAPI, Suhardi Somomoeljono, added the association had decided to form a team to investigate the allegation. A Supreme Court justice, a House of Representatives member, a university professor of law and two HAPI members have agreed to join the team.
He refused to reveal their identities, but said that HAPI had also appointed Adnan Buyung Nasution as the team advisor.
Buyung has been appointed, even though he will also represent Elza in the corruption case.
Even though HAPI has a disciplinary committee, it decided to establish the team to avoid public suspicion, upon the advice of Buyung and six other legal associations.
"If we find her guilty, HAPI will ask the high court to annul her professional license, Suhardi said.
He also suggested that Elza resign from her post as Tommy's lawyer, pending the result of the probe, "but it will be up to the team".
He claimed that HAPI is serious in its handling of the case.
"But we urge the police to support us in investigating this case by allowing witnesses, who are currently being detained, to attend the questioning (by HAPI's team). If the police refuse our request, it will be difficult for us to carry out the investigation."
The police have named Elza a suspect and will summon her next week over the allegation.
Elza, the police said, offered Rp 2 million each to Rahmat Hidayat and Tatang Somantri, both former security guards of the Soeharto family's Cemara apartment, where the police found several firearms and ammunition allegedly belonging to Tommy.
Both Rahmat and Tatang have admitted Elza bribed them to retract their statements before the police in the hearing.
They are currently being held at Jakarta Police Headquarters.
Elza is also believed to have attempted to bribe Syafiuddin with Rp 200 million. Syafiuddin, however, rejected the request and gave Tommy an 18-month jail term for graft.
The allegation was first revealed by Syafiuddin's second wife, Iwah Setyawati, last year.
At the time, HAPI had set up a team to probe Elza's case, but they claimed they could not proceed because Iwah had refused to answer their summon.