Tommy is ill, lawyer says

Tommy is ill, lawyer says

JAKARTA: The police failed on Tuesday to confront Hutomo
"Tommy" Mandala Putra with Doddy Sumadi and Abdullah Sidiq Muin,
who have been accused of extorting Rp 15 billion from Tommy to
bribe former president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid.

Tommy's lawyer Elza Syarief said Tommy was ill. But she did
not elaborate.

Doddy, a businessman, and Sidiq, head of Al-tauhid Muslim
boarding school in Kediri, East Java, had arranged the meetings
between Tommy and Gus Dur in two hotels here. It was believed
that the meetings were held to negotiate a presidential pardon
after the Supreme Court sentenced Tommy to 18 months in prison on
graft charges.

After the request was rejected late in 2000, Tommy fled.

On Monday, the Jakarta Provincial Prosecutors's Office
returned to the police two dossiers of Tommy for the second time,
on the murder of Supreme Court Justice Syafiuddin Kartasasmita
and illegal possession of ammunition.

Police spokesman Snr. Com. Anton Bachrul Alam admitted on
Tuesday that the dossiers were returned the previous day because
they were incomplete.

He said that police investigators forgot to include certain
things in the dossiers, but he denied that they were not pursuing
Tommy's cases seriously.

Last month, the prosecutors' office returned the dossiers with
some corrections. But it was not clear, which parts needed
correction.

Last weekend, the prosecutors' office also returned the
dossier of former chief of the State Logistics Agency, Bustanil
Arifin, who has been charged in a corruption scam causing the
state Rp 10 billion in losses.

Bustanil, who was arrested early last month, was transferred
to the Kramat Jati Police Hospital in East Jakarta two weeks ago
after he claimed he was suffering from diabetes. --JP