Police to question Tommy's lawyers

JAKARTA (JP): National Police Chief Gen. Surojo Bimantoro said on Saturday that Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra's defense lawyers would be questioned on Monday in connection with their client's whereabouts.

"Police will summon Tommy's lawyers on Monday. They will be quizzed, among other things, over whether they intend not to hand Tommy over," Bimantoro told journalists after seeing off President Abdurrahman Wahid who headed for the summit of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) in Doha, Qatar.

The defense team of the youngest son of former president Soeharto maintained last week that they would not surrender their client unless the prosecutors gave them certified copies of the presidential decree which rejected Tommy's plea for pardon.

However, when the prosecutors eventually sent the certified copies, Tommy went into hiding and the lawyers claim not to know his whereabouts.

Later, they said Tommy would only present himself for execution of his sentence if the government could provide a security guarantee while serving his term in the Cipinang penitentiary.

The defense lawyers are Tommy's racing buddy Bob R.E. Nasution, L.L.M. Samosir, Nudirman Munir and Erman Umar. The latter however, resigned after Tommy disregarded his advice to surrender.

On Friday evening, Attorney General Marzuki Darusman said his office, in cooperation with the police, would question those who were thought to know Tommy's whereabouts, including his lawyers and family.

He said that all places believed to be Tommy's old haunts were under police surveillance.

The police have widened their search worldwide with the help of Interpol days after Tommy was declared fugitive on Nov. 3. The search so far has been fruitless.

"I will do whatever is necessary to get him," Bimantoro said on Saturday.

Bimantoro, once adjutant to Tommy's father, has called on Tommy to surrender himself.

Tommy and his business associate, Ricardo Gelael, were sentenced by the Supreme Court to 18 months in prison for causing losses to the state of some Rp 76.7 billion losses in the 1995 land swap scam with the State Logistics Agency (Bulog).

The verdict which was issued on Sept. 22 overturned the South Jakarta District Court's decision which exonerated the two of all charges.

Ricardo surrendered himself to the prosecutors last Friday to start serving his jail term.

Erman Umar, who is also lawyer for the suspects in the East Timor human rights abuse case, has announced his withdrawal from Tommy's defense team.

"I tendered my resignation on Nov. 8 to be effective if Tommy remained missing for another two days. I am officially no longer his lawyer from this morning onward," he told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.

He said that his colleagues did not mind his resignation and added that some of them might follow suit.

Despite his previous position on Tommy's defense team, Erman pledged cooperation with the police and prosecutors to find Tommy.

"If I am summoned for questioning, I'm ready to tell the police all I know about Tommy. I still have the moral obligation to do so although I'm no longer his lawyer," he said.

Nudirman also expressed his willingness to face the inquiry as he has nothing to worry about.

"I have never tried to prevent the authorities from arresting Tommy. I know I'm not guilty for all I have done was in accordance with the law. If I said I don't know where Tommy is, I have told you the truth.

"Moreover, if the authorities fail to reach a consent with Tommy for the incarceration or they are unable to find my client, that is not my business...mine only deals with legal matters," he told the Post.

Nudirman admitted that the last time he saw Tommy was when they waited until 3 a.m. on Nov. 3 for the certified copy of the presidential decree rejecting Tommy's appeal.

He also said he respected Erman's decision to quit the team.

"Actually, our duties automatically ended since the pardon was rejected. But if Erman also quits from our efforts for a review into Tommy's case then it's his decision," Nudirman said.

National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Saleh Saaf said the summons for questioning the lawyers had not been issued since the Attorney General's Office had not officially requested it. (bby)