'Tommy tried to bribe Gus Dur'

'Tommy tried to bribe Gus Dur'

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A suspect confirmed on Tuesday that Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala
Putra had attempted to bribe former President Abdurrahman "Gus
Dur" Wahid in attempts to obtain a presidential pardon.

"Yes, there was such a plan. We'll hear about it in court and
you can make your own conclusion," Raden Doddy Sumadi told
reporters at police headquarters.

Doddy said he had arranged the controversial meetings between
Abdurrahman and Tommy, the youngest son of former president
Soeharto, at The Regent and the Hotel Borobudur in 2000. The
meetings were reportedly held to negotiate the absolution of his
18-month prison sentence in the Goro-Bulog land scam graft.

"My position was crystal clear. I was the mediator to help
arrange the meetings," Doddy asserted.

Earlier on Tuesday, Doddy was interrogated by police
simultaneously along with Tommy and another suspect Abdullah
Sidiq Muin, both of whom were accused by Tommy of blackmail and
extortion.

Tommy's lawyer, Elza Syarief, said Doddy and Sidiq admitted
that they had received the equivalent of Rp 15 billion in U.S.
dollars from Tommy in a meeting in Jakarta on Oct. 19, 2000. But,
they gave conflicting statements on how the money was distributed
among them.

Doddy appeared visibly upset when he left the interrogation
room and claimed in an emotional tone that he had become a
"victim" of a conspiracy.

"The meetings (between Tommy and Gus Dur) were successfully
arranged....so why am I now being treated like s***?" he shouted
furiously.

Sidiq, the principal of At-tauhid Islamic boarding school in
Kediri, East Java, refused to comment when reporters bombarded
him with questions.

Meanwhile, Tommy was all smiles as he left the interrogation
room, appearing relaxed with uncuffed hands as officers ushered
him away. A detective even held an umbrella to protect Tommy from
the drizzle.

Tommy is the prime suspect as the alleged mastermind of the
murder -- just five days after Gus Dur was replaced -- of Supreme
Court Justice M. Syafiuddin Kartasasmita who convicted him in the
graft case.

Despite a strong indication of bribery, which by law should
also implicate Tommy, the police had not yet given any indication
that they would pursue such a course.

Many legal observers believed that the case, which was
initiated by Tommy's lawyers, was merely a legal decoy to
complicate the police investigation of Tommy by dragging other
high-profile people into the case.