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