Tommy's bodyguards get jail for fake documents

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The South Jakarta District Court handed down verdicts on two former bodyguards of Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra on Thursday without hearing the testimony of Tommy, who apparently told the defendants to forge the documents.

Presiding judge Soedarto declared defendants Dedi Sutaedi Yusuf and Ferry Hukom guilty of making illegal documents to be used while Tommy was a fugitive.

Dedi was sentenced to 16 months in jail, while Ferry received 14 months.

The court was originally scheduled to announce its verdict on Wednesday, but it was delayed because Judge Soedarto's house was flooded.

According to the verdict, in May last year Dedi received a phone call from then fugitive Tommy, who requested a passport to be used during an emergency. Dedi then asked a newspaper man to forge the documents needed to obtain a passport. He paid Rp 500,000 and gave the man two photographs of Tommy sporting a beard and moustache. On the back of the photos, the name "Ibrahim" was written.

Tommy was on the run to avoid the 18-month jail term imposed on him for corruption.

Even though the two defendants forged the documents upon Tommy's order, the court did not summon Tommy to testify despite the request of Dedi's lawyer, M. Sawir Achmad.

Soedarto said that it was not relevant for the court to present Tommy because the defendants had admitted guilt. He said it was also "risky" to present Tommy, who the police are investigating in connection to other cases.

Topo Susanto, a legal expert from the University of Indonesia, said that Tommy should appear at the court not as a witness, but as a defendant. She said that police investigators should immediately investigate him for forgery.

Tommy has been questioned in connection to the murder of Justice M. Syafiuddin Kartasasmita, who sentenced him to 18 months in jail, and illegal possession of firearms.

State prosecutors had earlier asked the South Jakarta District Court to sentence Dedi and Ferry each to two years in prison.

Dedi, 34, received a heavier a sentence because he persuaded others to commit a crime while Ferry, 39, was found guilty of signing one of the fake documents.