Legal loopholes haunt Tommy's investigation
Emmy Fitri, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
As the euphoria over Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra's arrest settles, the burning question now is whether police, and eventually prosecutors, will have a water-tight case to bring against him.
Experience over the past three years has shown that the bigger the name, the more complex the crime and the greater the loopholes.
One of Tommy's lawyers, Elza Syarief, claimed they had not had time to prepare anything specific as investigations were ongoing.
"Right now we're still accompanying him in the interrogation and keeping an eye out for things we could later use for our defense," she said.
One frequent occurrence in recent high profile cases has been the defendant's sudden affliction by illness.
Legal expert Ahmad Ali is one of those who believes that, as the interrogation drags on, Tommy's lawyers will probably claim that their client's physical condition is failing due to the marathon questioning.
This would open the possibility of him leaving detention and moving to a plush hospital room, Ahmad said.
"Tommy must've learnt from the case of Soeharto and business tycoon Syamsul Nursalim," said Ahmad, who served as an expert staff member to the late Attorney General Baharuddin Lopa.
"For lawyers this is also effective for buying time," he added.
Tommy's lawyers have already proven their competence, including by getting his conviction in the Goro-Bulog scam overturned.
Apart from possible delaying tactics, they may exploit other technicalities permitted by the law in the three cases Tommy is likely to face -- masterminding the murder of Supreme Court Justice Syafiuddin Kartasasmita, illegal possession of firearms and masterminding a string of bomb attacks.
Police said that the dossier on the murder case was almost complete.
But a senior police detective cautioned that witnesses could easily retract their statements once in court, pointing to Elize Maria Tuwahatu, who in court had retracted her statement that Tommy was the one who handed her explosives.
"That's up to judges and prosecutors...Our job is to gather material evidence. Statements or testimonies are subject to change," detective Comr. Carlo Tewu said.
Lawyers may also question the manner of Tommy's capture as his whereabouts were ascertained by intercepting his cell phone transmissions.
Article 42 of Law No. 36 on Telecommunications states that authorities can tap telephone conversations as part of their investigation of alleged crimes carrying a sentence of at least five years imprisonment.
Tommy was on the run for a year. His initial sentence in the graft case was only 18 months. It was only later, while in hiding, that Tommy allegedly committed the graver crimes that carry a maximum sentence of death.
In apparent anticipation of trouble, National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar insisted that police did not intercept any telephone conversations and relied only on the cellular signals sent.