Tommy finds time to testify

M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

After seven no-shows citing a variety of reasons, convicted felon Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, the youngest son of former president Soeharto, testified on Monday at the Central Jakarta District Court in the extortion trial of Islamic boarding school head Abdullah Sidiq Muin.

Tommy, who was escorted to the court from Gatot Subroto Army Hospital where a team of 10 doctors had conducted a medical checkup in the past week, told the courtroom that the real culprit in the extortion case, Raden Dodi Sumadi, must be tried immediately.

Sporting a Hawaiian shirt, black trousers and leather sandals, Tommy looked in good condition, although doctors had diagnosed him with a tumor in the eye and a stomach ulcer.

He was tightly guarded by police and prison guards outside the courthouse, while journalists and visitors passed through metal detectors to enter the courtroom.

"I don't know Kyai Sidiq, and never did business with him. It was Dodi who claimed he could get me out of the legal tangle I was in," Tommy told the packed courtroom, referring to the defendant by his Islamic title.

Tommy added that Dodi, who claimed to be a close ally of then president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid, said he could arrange a meeting with Gus Dur to discuss presidential clemency for the 18- month conviction Tommy had received for corruption.

For his services, Dodi charged Tommy Rp 15 billion (US$1.78 million) and shared the money with Sidiq and another Islamic boarding school head, Noer Muhammad Iskandar SQ.

Dodi's share was reportedly split into three equal parts and distributed to the Puan Amal Hayati Foundation, owned by Gus Dur's wife Sinta Nuriyah, Sidiq's At-Tauhid Islamic Boarding School in Kediri, East Java, and to pay for expenses incurred by the meeting.

Tommy later discovered that the foundation was fictitious.

"Dodi said if I failed to provide the money, I would go to jail immediately and all the corruption charges against my family would proceed," he said.

He paid the money, but his appeal for clemency was rejected. Tommy was on the run for over a year before his arrest in November 2001.

Tommy is serving out a 15-year prison term at maximum-security Batu Penitentiary on Nusakambangan Island, Central Java, for illegal possession of arms and masterminding the contract killing of Supreme Court Justice M. Syafiuddin Kartasasmita, who had sentenced him over a separate graft case in 2000.

Although investigation into the Tommy-Sidiq-Dodi graft case began in 2001, the Sidiq's trial began only last October. Dodi is still at large, but police said his case file had been submitted to the prosecutors' office.

Speaking after the trial, Sidiq said he had fallen victim of a conspiracy that had pitted him against Tommy. He also said he would return all the money he had made from the deal if the court ordered him to do so.

After hearing testimony from Wahyu Yuwono -- a Kediri Police officer who had accompanied Sidiq while he withdrew the bribe money from a local bank -- presiding judge Saparudin Hasibuan adjourned the trial until Feb. 24.

Tommy was flown back to the prison island immediately after the court session.