Police build murder charges against Tommy
Police build murder charges against Tommy
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Police continued their intensive interrogation of Hutomo
"Tommy" Mandala Putra on Monday, focusing on trying to build up a
murder case against former President Soeharto's youngest son.
While the questioning was apparently still limited to his
escape a year ago, police claimed they were confident of
constructing a strong case for premeditated murder in the drive-
by shooting of Supreme Court Justice M. Syafiuddin Kartasasmita,
who was one of the panel of judges that convicted Tommy for
graft.
Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Sofjan Jacoeb denied
speculation that the police were unfocused in their
investigations, saying that the primary spotlight was being
placed on the murder case.
Tommy, 39, was captured last week after a year in hiding.
Police have said that apart from the murder charge, he could also
face charges of illegal possession of arms and masterminding a
spate of bomb attacks.
The government, however, has also asked the police to include
Tommy's contempt of court by his evading arrest last year.
As reporters continued to stake out police headquarters on
Monday, curiously the name of former president Abdurrahman Wahid
was often heard, with the speculation over alleged deals between
Abdurrahman and Tommy getting increasing media coverage.
However, it could not be independently confirmed whether Tommy
alluded to Abdurrahman during his interrogation.
Tommy's lawyer, Elza Syarif, told The Jakarta Post on Friday
that neither she not her client had "blown it up in the media."
"We spoke to the police and gave all the documents and
evidence to the police. That's all," she remarked.
Reporters in an attempt to ask Tommy himself about the matter
only received a smile before he was escorted to another room.
Sofjan Jacoeb himself was vague about the whole thing saying
only that certain names "were mentioned by Tommy when asked why
he ran away."
"Tommy also mentioned other names which I will not disclose
here," Sofjan added.
It is unclear whether Tommy's questioning will eventually drag
in other high profile names as he was known to move in the upper
echelons of society.
What is clear is that in the dying days of Abdurrahman's
presidency, all was not going well between the former president
and the police as he tried to slowly oust the then police chief
Gen. Surojo Bimantoro from office.
More of Tommy's acquaintances have been summoned by police,
with the model and wife of businessman Setyawan Djody, Sandy
Harun, being the latest to be questioned.
Sandy, according to police spokesman Sr. Comr. Anton Bachrul
Alam, could be named a suspect if she really did meet Tommy twice
during his time on the run as has been alleged.
Police on Monday also summoned Deddy Yusuf and Ferry Ukom for
allegedly helping Tommy obtain fake documents using the alias
Ibrahim.
Separately, legal experts underlined the importance of the
police conducting a "successful" investigation of Tommy,
stressing that the police's credibility was at stake with so much
public attention focusing on the case.
Former Supreme Court justice Adi Andojo Soetjipto told The
Jakarta Post on Monday that the people must be given the
satisfaction of seeing justice being served.
Meanwhile, J.E. Sahetapy, chairman of the National Law
Commission (KHN), suggested that the police concentrate on one
primary case so that their investigations would be more focused,
citing the murder of Syafiuddin as probably the most serious of
the alleged offenses.
"The investigation could be made more efficient," he insisted.