Judicial review of Tommy Soeharto case initiated
JAKARTA (JP): The Supreme Court is currently processing a court review of the corruption case of fugitive son of former president Soeharto, Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, who has already been sentenced to 18 months in jail.
Supreme Court chief Bagir Manan said on Friday that his office would soon select justices to handle the case.
"We received the request for a review of the court verdict in Tommy's graft case and it is the task of the panel of judges to process the request," Bagir told journalists, after attending the Independence Day celebrations at Merdeka Palace.
"It is the policy of the Supreme Court that only the appointed panel of judges can control the case and even I cannot interfere with any part of the process," he remarked.
The chief justice underlined that the disappearance of Tommy was not related to the legal process at the Supreme Court, as it was the responsibility of the National Police to find him.
The youngest son of former president Soeharto was sentenced to 18 months in jail and fined Rp 30.7 billion (US$3.6million) last September in a case concerning a land exchange deal with Bulog (the State Logistics Agency).
A member of the panel of judges that sentenced Tommy, M. Syafiuddin Kartasasmita, was murdered last month, and Tommy was declared a suspect in the assassination.
Separately, city police chief Insp. Gen. Sofjan Jacoeb confirmed on Friday that there was a possibility that the Soeharto family would hand over the fugitive.
"I heard that last night, they held a meeting in Soeharto's residence with their lawyers (about the handover of Tommy)," Sofjan said.
However, he said the police would not lessen their efforts to hunt for the owner of the Humpuss business group before he surrendered himself to the police.
Soeharto family lawyer Juan Felix Tampubolon said on Thursday that the family would hold a meeting to discuss the technical aspects of the plan to surrender Tommy.
"We (the lawyers) have been appointed to discuss the technical matters regarding how to hand him over," Juan said.
On Thursday, the police questioned Tommy's sisters, Siti Hediati Prabowo, also known as Titiek, and Siti Hutami Endang Adiningsih, or Mamiek.
Mamiek admitted that gold bars and jewelry worth $600,000, which was found in an apartment in Menteng, Central Jakarta, belonged to the Soeharto family.
"We kept the gold bars and jewelry in the apartment since we thought it was a safe place," she said.
Besides the gold bars and jewelry, police also seized firearms and some documents when they arrested the apartment's manager, Hetty Siti Hartika, on Aug. 4.
Many regretted the police's decision to return the gold bars and jewelry to Hetty, who has been accused of harboring Tommy and of illegal possession of firearms. (dja/jun)