Wed, 01 Nov 2000

Legal circles differ on Tommy case

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesian legal circles differ in their views on the legal status of former president Soeharto's youngest son Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, following a Supreme Court verdict in September that sentenced him to 18 months in jail over an unlawful land exchange deal in 1995.

South Jakarta Prosecutor's Office head Antasari Azhar said on Tuesday that he would execute the verdict within the next two days, stressing that Tommy's latest motion for a review of the Supreme Court's ruling automatically nullified the postponement of execution granted earlier after Tommy had submitted a request for a presidential pardon.

"I will give Tommy two days to appear at the prosecutor's office prior to execution. If he fails to meet the summons, there will be no second summons," he told journalists at his office, while announcing that Tommy had received the summons earlier in the day.

Antasari based his opinion on Paragraph 1 of Article 268 of the Criminal Code Procedures (KUHAP), which stipulates that an appeal for a review of a ruling does not postpone the execution of the ruling.

"The request for a presidential pardon has delayed the execution, but his latest motion then nullified the postponement," he said.

However, President of the South Jakarta District Court Lalu Mariyun said the prosecutors could not execute the Supreme Court's verdict, unless Tommy's defense lawyers canceled the appeal for pardon from President Abdurrahman Wahid which had earlier been submitted.

The Law on Clemency states that a convict is granted a postponement of his/her sentence pending the President's decision over his/her appeal for a presidential pardon.

"The verdict can only be executed after the President issues a decree in response to the appeal," Mariyun told journalists earlier in the day.

"The delay in execution is valid until the President issues the decree on his appeal," he said.

Mariyun based his argument on the Supreme Court Guidelines for Court Proceedings which state that a motion for a review of the case could only be processed by the district court after the issuing of a presidential decree on the request for a pardon.

"Point 157 of the Supreme Court guidelines stipulates that a convict may request a presidential pardon in an attempt to avoid execution (of the verdict) and can file a motion for a review of his or her case afterwards," he said.

Mariyun also said that the district court had established a three-member panel of judges -- Soedarto, I Gde Putra Jadnya and Nur Hisbach -- to decide on Tommy's petition for a review of his case. The initial hearing is slated for Nov. 8.

Tommy requested pardon from President Abdurrahman Wahid on Oct. 3 following the Supreme Court's ruling of Sept. 22 which sentenced him to 18 months in jail and ordered him to reimburse Rp 30.7 trillion (US$3.34 million) of state losses resulting from the 1995 land exchange deal between wholesaler PT Goro Batara Sakti and the State Logistics Agency.

Following the request for a pardon, Tommy's defense team filed a motion for a review of the verdict with the South Jakarta District Court on Monday, claiming that their client was innocent and errors in law on the part of the justices issuing the verdict.

Separately, Minister of Justice and Human Rights Yusril Ihza Mahendra said that he had received Tommy's petition for a presidential pardon from the Supreme Court on Tuesday afternoon, along with the one filed by Tommy's business associate Ricardo Gelael.

"I will study the case briefs and give my opinions on both petitions before handing them over to the President," he told journalists. (bby)