Lawyer claims Doddy received Tommy's money

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Raden Doddy Sumadi, the middleman who arranged the meeting between Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra and former president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid, admitted to receiving money from Tommy, his lawyer said Thursday.

"Yes, but there will be more detailed explanations on the matter (the money)," lawyer Firman Wijaya confirmed when asked whether or not his client had received money from Tommy.

Doddy, along with Abdullah Sidiq Muin, principal of the At- tauhid Islamic boarding school in Kediri, East Java, were reported by Tommy's lawyers to police for alleged blackmail and extortion of the youngest son of former president Soeharto, causing him a loss of Rp 15 billion.

Doddy, who was arrested by the police on Wednesday, is reportedly close to Gus Dur, but some sources had said that Tommy and Doddy had been acquainted as business partners long before the meetings.

Doddy and Sidiq, one of Gus Dur's spiritual advisers, had apparently been paid to help arrange the controversial meetings at The Regent and Borobudur Hotel here last year between Tommy and then president Gus Dur, the subject reportedly being negotiations for a presidential pardon.

Many legal experts believed that the case initiated by Tommy's lawyers was merely a legal ploy to derail the police's investigation of Tommy by dragging high profile figures into the mix.

While the police had aggressively followed up the lawyers' report on the alleged extortion, they seem to be ignoring the very real possibility that Tommy should also be charged with bribery.

Gus Dur and his wife Sinta Nuriyah had been summoned by police to track the money in question, which reportedly had been siphoned off to Sinta's social foundation Puan Amal Hayati. Both Gus Dur and Sinta denied all allegations.

Doddy, who disappeared following Tommy's arrest in November 2001, was captured at his residence in Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta on Wednesday evening.

Sidiq had been summoned but failed to appear due to ill health. Police said they sent a team to Kediri to check on his condition.