Prosecutors unable to detain Elza

JAKARTA: The Jakarta Prosecutors Office failed to detain Elza Syarief, whose dossiers and evidence for the bribery case in which she is implicated were submitted by police to the office on Thursday.

"Due to the suspect's strong arguments, including that she wouldn't repeat her offense, wouldn't destroy evidence and wouldn't flee from justice, we consider there is no need for us to detain her," head of the office Muljohardjo told reporters.

Elza Syarief defended the convict Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, the youngest son of former president Soeharto, allegedly by bribing Rahmat Hidayat and Tatang Somantri, both security guards at the Cemara Apartment, Menteng, Central Jakarta, to lie before the court in which Tommy was standing trial for illegal possession of firearms.

According to Article 21 of the Criminal Code, whoever is charged with offenses punishable by a custodial sentence of more than five years, is subject to detention.

For the alleged bribery, Elza could face seven years in prison according to Articles 242 and 55 of the Criminal Code, besides Article 2 of Law No. 11/1980 on bribery. --JP