Hunt for fugitive Tommy intensifies

Hunt for fugitive Tommy intensifies

JAKARTA (JP): After asking the help of Interpol to put the
name of Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra on their worldwide list of
wanted people, the police have widened their search for the
nation's most wanted fugitive by combing several additional sites
outside of the capital Jakarta.

By Friday, police detectives had searched a number of sites,
including some of the country's popular resort islands such as
Bali, Batam, Lombok and the Thousand Islands right up to the East
Kalimantan-Malaysia border.

But until late on Friday evening, police officers claimed to
have come out empty-handed in their search for the youngest son
of former president Soeharto.

"The manhunt for Tommy has reached the Thousand Islands (a
cluster of islands off the coast of Jakarta) this morning as well
as other places in Bekasi and Sukabumi (in West Java)," National
Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Saleh Saaf told reporters.

"We realize the public's doubt about our ability to find
Tommy, but we have put our maximum effort into locating him."

According to officer Saleh, the Interpol headquarters in
Sierra-Leon, France, agreed on Friday to put Tommy on their list
of wanted people which will be distributed to all countries all
over the world.

Tommy, who was convicted on Sept. 22 of graft in a land swap
deal, has ignored calls to surrender. He has been missing ever
since President Abdurrahman Wahid rejected his plea for a pardon
last week. Tommy was declared a fugitive on Tuesday.

The 1995 land swap deal between the State Logistics Agency
(Bulog) and Tommy's company PT Goro Batara Sakti, which caused Rp
76.7 billion in state losses, also involved his business partner,
Richardo Gelael.

Both Tommy and Gelael were sentenced to 18 months in prison by
the Supreme Court. Gelael, who is also a close friend of Tommy in
the sportscar racing game, began serving his sentence last Friday
at the Cipinang Penitentiary in East Jakarta.

According to Tommy's defense team, the fugitive has refused to
go to jail after supposedly receiving a threat from an unknown
person via a telephone call, who vowed to abuse him if he ever
went behind bars.

Officer Saleh said the police would guarantee Tommy's security
if only the latter would present himself for sentencing.

"The security guarantee is not provided only for Tommy but for
other prisoners as well," he added.

In Pamekasan, East Java, President Abdurrahman said he had
refused Tommy's request for special treatment during the serving
of his imprisonment.

Abdurrahman said Tommy had once asked for a private cell to be
built in the Cipinang Penitentiary and to be allowed to bring
along eight of his bodyguards to prevent him from being abused.

"No one is above the law. I call on Tommy to surrender so he
can be sent to jail. If he is here in the morning and finds the
prison is not safe for him, he may move to another prison in the
afternoon," Abdurrahman was quoted by Antara as saying at a
function commemorating Nahdlatul Ulama (NU)'s 77th anniversary.

In Semarang, House of Representatives (DPR) Chairman Akbar
Tandjung has lashed out at accusations that the President has
been protecting Tommy.

"I think that is not true. How could Gus Dur protect Tommy? In
fact, it is Gus Dur who has ordered the arrest of Tommy," he said
on the sidelines of a seminar on Friday.

Akbar, who is also chairman of the Golkar Party, said the
accusation was aimed at discrediting the President.

Separately, Attorney General Marzuki Darusman insisted that
his intelligence officers had checked and found that Tommy had
not been in his residence since the verdict was announced last
Thursday.

"Moreover, the convict had not received the copy of the
presidential decree rejecting his pardon on the same day as the
prosecutors' summons," he told journalists at his office.

Tommy's lawyers used the situation as a chance to avoid direct
execution of the sentence, arguing that prosecutors could not
execute the ruling until the convicted had received a copy.

Separately in the day, Supreme Court Judge Muladi said that no
sanctions could be taken against prosecutors should they be
proven to have protected a fugitive because such a situation has
not yet been stated in the Criminal Code. (bby/jaw/ylt)