Police to summon Tommy's family members soon

JAKARTA (JP): National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Saleh Saaf said on Wednesday that police would summon Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra's family for questioning in the hope of finding clues as to where the country's most wanted fugitive is hiding.

"We will summon them tomorrow (Thursday) or the day after (Friday)," Saleh said at the National Police Headquarters.

Saleh said the people who would be summoned included his wife Ardhia Pramesti Rigita Cahyani and his eldest sister Siti Hardijanti Rukmana.

On Wednesday, police questioned Tommy's lawyers, Elza Syarif, Bob Hasibuan and Nudirman Munir, over their client's disappearance.

Like Tommy's former lawyer Erman Umar, who was questioned on Monday, the lawyers insisted that they did not know Tommy's whereabouts.

Separately, Coordinating Minister for Political, Social and Security Affairs Gen. (ret) Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said on Wednesday that the government's credibility would be harmed if police failed to arrest Tommy soon.

Speaking to journalists after hosting a coordinating meeting on political and security affairs, Susilo said if Tommy's safety was threatened while he serves his incarceration he could seek assistance from police.

"Protection is given to everybody, including convicts. Therefore, I refuse to accept that as a reason for Tommy not immediately doing his sentence," Susilo said.

Tommy went into hiding as prosecutors were about to incarcerate him last week.

The youngest son of former president Soeharto was found guilty of graft in a land exchange deal which caused the state Rp 76.7 billion in losses.

Head of South Jakarta Prosecutor's Office Antasari Azhar said his office was continuing listing Tommy's private assets which could be further seized as collateral for his personal obligation to compensate the state losses which, according to the court, amounts to Rp 30.6 billion.

"We're now looking for his private property in Indonesia that we can take to secure the execution to pay the state loss," he said.

"If any of Tommy's heirs are willing to pay for him, then we will return all the property we seized," Antasari said.

He said Tommy's wife's refusal to sign the seizure notice of the couple's residence in Menteng, Central Jakarta, on Tuesday would not hamper his office's efforts.

"Those who oppose this action may try to pursue any legal recourse they wish. We found out that Tommy has owned the house since 1982, long before he got married in 1997," Antasari said.

Antasari further said that from a gross appraisal of the estimated 2,000-square-meter residence seized on Tuesday, its value was not equivalent to the amount of the state losses.

Meanwhile in Yogyakarta, legal expert Satjipto Rahardjo rebuked the Attorney General's Office and police for letting Tommy "escape".

Satjipto noted that the latest debacle was a further sign that no significant change had been shown by government officials in the current era of reform.

"Their performance is not different from their performance 10 years ago," said the Semarang-based Diponegoro University legal expert.

Satjipto warned that failure to arrest Tommy could lead to mass distrust among people toward the government, noting that the government was racing against the people's patience.

"People's hunger for justice can only be symbolically satisfied with the arrest of Tommy," he said. (02/44/jaw/bby)