I met Syafiuddin, did not hire hitmen to murder him: Tommy

I met Syafiuddin, did not hire hitmen to murder him: Tommy

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, who is accused of masterminding
the murder of Supreme Court Justice M. Syafiuddin Kartasasmita,
admitted on Wednesday that he had privately met the judge but
denied he had hired hitmen to kill him.

"I visited his house in Cipayung, East Jakarta, in 2000 to ask
him why my appeal to the Supreme Court had been rejected," Tommy
told the Central Jakarta District Court.

Syafiuddin, one of the three judges who convicted Tommy for
corruption, was shot dead on his way to work on July 26, 2001.

Tommy also admitted that he had earlier ordered his bodyguard,
Dedi Sutaedi Yusuf, to monitor Syafiuddin's house.

As usual, Tommy looked relaxed, even though he could be
sentenced to death if found guilty. In Wednesday's hearing, he
smiled a lot and even burst into laughter several times and made
jokes.

The defendant said he was accompanied by Dedi when he visited
Syafiuddin's house. Lawyer Elza Syarif and businessman Kennedy
"Kenny" Nanik had been in the house when he arrived.

Tommy, the youngest son of former president Soeharto, met
Syafiuddin to ask why the Supreme Court had overturned the not-
guilty verdict of the Central Jakarta District Court and
sentenced him to 18 months in jail.

"He explained that the (presidential) palace had intervened in
the verdict and suggested that I ask for a judicial review,"
Tommy claimed.

He admitted that he later gave Rp 15 billion to Dodi Sumadi
and Noer Iskandar, two associates of the then president
Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid, in an effort to bribe him.

But early in November 2000, Abdurrahman refused to grant him a
presidential pardon. Two days later, Tommy escaped and was
arrested a year later in a house in Bintaro, Tangerang.

Several of Tommy's accomplices have been convicted for their
part in Syafiuddin's murder. Dedi received 16 months in jail
while R. Maulawarman, alias Molla, and Noval Hadad, were given
life sentences for shooting Syafiuddin to death. Prosecutor Abdul
Kamar Badrun, who earlier asked the Central Jakarta District
Court to sentence Molla and Noval to 20 years in jail each, said
they carried out the crime on Tommy's orders. While the court
gave a much harsher sentence, it did not mention in the verdict
that the murder was carried out on Tommy's orders.

On Wednesday, Tommy insisted he did not know Molla and Noval.

Tommy is also charged with the illegal possession of weapons
found in Cemara Apartment, Central Jakarta and in a house in
Pondok Indah, South Jakarta, as well as fleeing from justice.

He denied all charges, but admitted he hid himself after he
was convicted by the Supreme Court because he wanted to avoid
execution.

He said that when he was on the run, he spent his time at his
own house on Jl. Cendana in Central Jakarta, at his father's home
in Kemusuk, Yogyakarta, his mother's home in Surakarta, Central
Java, in Garut, West Java, and the homes of his relatives in
Jakarta as well as holiday cottages across Java.