Legal loopholes still abound, Tommy's investigation drags on

Damar Harsanto and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

As the legal process over the murder of Supreme Court Justice M. Syafiuddin Kartasasmita drags on, observers have warned the public to keep a watchful eye on possible ploys to protect Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra from any accusations as the alleged mastermind.

Local watchdog Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) unveiled in Tuesday's open discussion at Indonusa Esa Unggul University here that the public should not be distracted by the many moves and tactics by Tommy's aides.

"Their claim that they knew nothing about him may be an early indication of a 'grand design' to clear him from all accusations," said Iskandar Sonhaji of ICW.

R. Maulawarman, alias Molla, 37, a defendant accused in the drive-by shooting of Syaifuddin, who had sentenced Tommy to 18 months in jail for graft, denied in court that he had met Tommy. Instead, he confessed that he was hired by an aide of Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, named Frans, who had provided the rifles and money to carry out the assassination. Frans is currently still at large.

In an obvious move to protect Tommy from accusation, Molla later retracted all statements that implicated Tommy, and claimed that they were engineered by the police.

Noval Hadad, another defendant in Syafiuddin's murder, also withdrew his statements made before the police, saying that he had been coerced to make them.

Iskandar alleged that the tactic of retracting earlier testimonies, as carried out by Tommy's aides, is a common legal ploy by the main suspect to evade accusations.

"Still, there are many legal loopholes for Tommy to exploit to avoid the law," said Iskandar, who also served as secretary to the examination committee into the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Tommy's 18-month prison sentence in the Goro-Bulog land scam.

Another legal loophole may arise from Tommy's dossiers on the murder of Syafiuddin and on illegal possession of guns, which were returned by the Jakarta Prosecutors' Office respectively last Friday and Wednesday as they were considered incomplete.

Legal expert from Hassanudin University in Makassar Achmad Ali cautioned earlier that Tommy's lawyers might attempt to use delaying tactics, which had often proven effective in buying time.

Achmad warned that Tommy's lawyers might exploit technicalities permitted by the law in the handling of Tommy's cases.

Tommy's lawyers have already proven their effectiveness by getting his conviction in the Goro-Bulog scam overturned.

City police deputy spokesman Comr. Alex Mandalika admitted on Thursday that Tommy's lawyers might have tactics to protect Tommy from accusations, but he played down the allegation that the police and prosecutors had attempted to hamper the legal process.

"We've done our utmost to complete the dossiers, but the prosecutors, of course, do not want to take the risk of receiving the dossiers before they have ensured the data is sufficient," he said.

Until now, the police have been unable to confirm when they would submit the dossiers to the prosecutors.

The police said they had a total of 120 days to complete the investigation. They based their right to detain Tommy for 60 days in relation to each case against him on Article 24 of the Criminal Code Procedures, which states that the police can detain a suspect for 20 days, followed by a 40 day extension.

Tommy has been in detention since late November last year.

Achmad also warned the media not to be misled by Tommy's lawyers in pursuing every legal intricacy, many of which were red herrings.

In the latest maneuver, Tommy's lawyers have successfully dragged big names into the legal arena. Former president Abdurrahman Wahid and his wife Sinta Nuriyah were summoned by police last week as witnesses in an extortion case that allegedly involved Tommy offering a payment of Rp 20 billion. The alleged extortion is linked to Tommy's attempt to seek a presidential pardon for his sentence in the Goro-Bulog land scam. There was no indication that Tommy would be charged with bribery over the incident.