Police detain Tommy's lawyer in bribery case

Police detain Tommy's lawyer in bribery case

Muninggar Sri Saraswati and Leo Wahyudi S, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Jakarta Police detained Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra's
lawyer, Elza Syarief, on Monday evening for allegedly bribing two
witnesses to lie to the court during her client's trial.

Elza signed her detention letter at 6:30 p.m., after being
questioned for over seven hours at the Jakarta Police
Headquarters, according to Adj. Sr. Comr. Anton Wahono, the chief
detective in the city police's corruption division.

A letter was sent to Elza's husband, Rear Adm. Yuswaji, a
member of the Navy's intelligence division, notifying him of her
detention.

The police charged Elza with violating Article 242 of the
Criminal Code on giving false testimony under oath, and Article 2
of Law No. 11/1980 on bribery.

The first violation carries a maximum penalty of seven years
in prison, and the second five years in prison.

During Monday's questioning, the police allowed Elza to take
several breaks to refresh herself. Elza arrived at police
headquarters at about 10:25 a.m. wearing a red pantsuit, and
later in the afternoon she was wearing a green pantsuit.

Although allegations of bribery are not new for the country's
judiciary, where the practice of bribing witnesses, prosecutors
and judges is believed by many to be commonplace, this is the
first instance of a lawyer being detained by the police over such
charges.

Despite the seriousness of the charges against Elza, she
should not have any difficulty finding lawyers willing to defend
her. According to T. Gayus Lumbuun, the head of Elza's current
defense team, there are some 50 lawyers and advocates ready to
defend their colleague.

Last year, in the name of solidarity, dozens of lawyers came
out to support another of Tommy's lawyers, Juan Felix Tampubolon,
who was named a suspect for allegedly aiding his then fugitive
client in eluding the police. The final outcome of that case was
never announced.

Lumbuun told journalists that Elza admitted to having given Rp
1 million each to Rahmat Hidayat and Tatang Somantri, both former
security guards at the Soeharto family-owned Cemara Apartments.

"It (the money) was used by the two witnesses to buy decent
clothes for their appearance at Tommy's trial ... and for other
things, too," Lumbuun said.

Rahmat and Tatang, who are currently in police detention, have
said that Elza gave them each Rp 1 million before they testified
in court, and after testifying on April 10 they received another
Rp 1 million each from Elza's employee, Tiurma Sondang Pasaribu.

The police believe that Elza bribed Rahmat and Tatang to
retract earlier statements they gave to police implicating Tommy
in the illegal possession of firearms, and to deny that the
signatures on the statements were theirs.

On April 14, the police arrested Rahmat for giving false
testimony to the court. Several days later, Tatang was arrested
on the same charge.

Earlier on Monday, the ethics board of the Indonesian
Advocates and Lawyers Association (HAPI) said it had yet to reach
a decision on whether Elza violated the association's code of
ethics.

"We (the five-members ethics board) have yet to reach a
decision in this matter," said lawyer Yan Apul Girsang, who heads
the board. The board plans to announce its decision next week.

If Elza is ruled to have committed a serious violation of
HAPI's code of ethics, the association could revoke her
membership and ask the Supreme Court to suspend her license to
practice law.

Many legal observers, however, believe the association
launched its investigation into Elza's alleged breach of ethics
in order to deter the police from summoning her as a suspect in a
criminal investigation.

During a hearing of the ethics board last week, Elza said she
gave a total of Rp 5.8 million to Rahmat and Tatang, as well as
to Marvin Hukom and Beni M. Robani, two other employees of the
Cemara Apartments who testified at Tommy's trial.

Elza claimed she gave Rahmat and Tatang Rp 1 million each to
buy new clothes for the trial out of "humanitarian concerns".