'Tommy tried to bribe, threaten Syafiuddin'

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra had attempted to bribe and threatened Supreme Court Justice M. Syafiuddin Kartasasmita to rule in his favor before he was shot dead last year, the victim's wife said on Wednesday.

Syafiuddin's wife, Sokimah, told the Central Jakarta District Court that Tommy's lawyer, Elza Syarief, had offered the bribe to Iwah Setiawati, the second wife of Syafiuddin.

"My husband told me that Tommy's lawyer, Elza Syarief, offered Rp 200 million (US$ 21,000) to the woman in Cipayung," said Sokimah, referring to Iwah, who lives in Cipayung, East Jakarta.

Tommy is charged with masterminding the murder of Syafiuddin on July 26, 2001, illegal possession of firearms and ammunition found in Cemara Apartments and in Pondok Indah, as well as fleeing from justice.

If convicted, Tommy could face the death penalty.

Syafiuddin was one of a panel of judges who sentenced Tommy in September 2000 to 18 months in prison for graft.

Sokimah said she told her husband to be careful in handling the case, but he replied, "It's OK, I've asked (Iwah) to return (the money)."

The witness said that Syafiuddin also told her that Tommy, accompanied by Elza and several other people, had met him in Cipayung.

Tommy told Syafiuddin "Sir, if someone is nice to me, I can be even kinder but if he is mean I can be meaner," Sokimah said with tears in her eyes.

During the hearing, Tommy avoided eye contact with Sokimah.

Tommy, clad in blue batik shirt, rejected Sokimah's testimony, saying that Elza was not his lawyer at that time and that he had never threatened Syaifuddin.

Another witness, Dedi Sutaedi Yusuf, who was Tommy's accomplice, told the court that he had accompanied Tommy to visit Syafiuddin in Cipayung.

He also said Tommy had phoned him while he was on the run to locate and to sketch the addresses of Syafiuddin and two other Supreme Court justices who handled his graft case.

Another witness, M. Imam Subarkah, a former deputy chief of the National Intelligence Agency (BIN), said his office issued five pistol licenses for Tommy in 1997.

According to Imam, his office issued the licenses as Tommy was considered a VIP, although such licensees were usually issued for BIN members and planted agents only.

"The defendant was considered a planted agent," he told the court.

The police found two of the licenses during a raid in August 2001 in Cemara Apartments. The pistols registered in the licenses were among five firearms found in the apartment.

Earlier in the day, Tampubolon asked the court to postpone Tommy's trial until the case of Rahmat Hidayat was settled.

Rahmat, a former security guard at Cemara Apartments, is being detained by the police for giving false testimony in Tommy's case last week.

Presiding judge Amiruddin Zakaria, however, rejected the request. He said the panel of judges had no idea about the detention, but he added that the police could only arrest a witness under the judges order.