Tommy hullabaloo taking the spotlight off Buloggate II

Tommy hullabaloo taking the spotlight off Buloggate II

JAKARTA (JP): The latest installment in the high-profile
detention of Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra centered on Saturday on
the visit of his two elder sisters to Jakarta Police Headquarters
and efforts by his lawyers to drag former president Abdurrahman
Wahid into the drama.

Wearing a brown head scarf, Siti Hardijanti "Tutut" Indra
Rukmana and her younger sister Siti Hutami "Mamiek" Adiningsih,
in dark green attire, went to the Jakarta Police Headquarters to
seek permission to visit Tommy.

But they were denied access to their brother, a suspect in the
murder of Justice Syafiuddin Kartasasmita.

"We hope police will allow us to visit him next week," Tutut
told reporters after meeting Jakarta Police chief of detectives
Sr. Comr. Adang Rochjana.

Police said Tommy could not be visited, even by his family
members, as he was being questioned by police investigators.

Tommy was taken from his cell for his fourth session of
questioning on Saturday at 9:30 a.m. His lawyer Elza Syarif
arrived at 10:15.

Elza was reluctant to provide details of the questioning.

She, nevertheless, confirmed that the questions posed by
investigators centered around her client's meetings with former
President Abdurrahman Wahid at The Regent Hotel and Borobudur
Hotel.

Another of Tommy's lawyers, Nurdirman Munir, separately said
that the police should consider questioning former president
Abdurrahman Wahid as the latter was believed to have met Tommy
and made a deal with him prior to his escape.

"The court has brought former president Soeharto to trial, why
can't they do the same with Gus Dur," he said, referring to
Abdurrahman.

Tommy reportedly met Gus Dur to discuss the possibility of a
presidential pardon over his conviction in the land-swap case
involving his Goro Batara Sakti retail chain and the State
Logistics Agency (Bulog).

Rumors had it that Tommy had bribed the former president for
Rp 15 billion, but Abdurrahman denied the allegations.

Meanwhile, Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Sofjan Jacoeb said
that Abdurrahman would be summoned for clarification once the
investigation into the murder of Justice Syafiuddin was
completed.

"Sure, we'll be summoning him," Sofjan told reporters.

Meanwhile, communications expert Tjipta Lesmana warned that
the media fanfare over Tommy's arrest and questioning would only
benefit former ruling party Golkar and its chairman Akbar
Tandjung, allegedly involved in the misuse of Rp 40 billion in
Bulog funds.

The Tommy case, Tjipta said, could overshadow investigations
into the Bulog graft case, dubbed as Buloggate II.

"This might be a scenario setup. I just want to say that there
are some coincidences. When the Bulog case and the change of
police chief were in the spotlight, then came this arrest," he
said.