Legal loopholes still abound, Tommy's investigation drags on

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.