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.