Tommy's case far from being closed

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

As uproar over the exoneration of former president Soeharto's youngest son increases, the Attorney General's Office pledged on Wednesday to continue its legal fight by filing a case review with the Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, legislators asked relevant authorities to investigate the members of the panel of justices who exonerated Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra of corruption charges.

Attorney General M.A. Rachman said, after meeting with President Megawati Soekarnoputri in Jakarta, that his office would immediately form a team to analyze the Supreme Court's review ruling on Tommy's case.

The new team would be directly under his control, Rachman said.

"It is possible to do so (file another review) as it happened in Muchtar Pakpahan's case," he said.

Indonesian Prosperity Trade Union (SBSI) chairman Muchtar Pakpahan, who was sentenced to three years in jail for inciting riots in Medan, won a review case at the Supreme Court in 1995.

However, the Attorney General filed another review, and the Supreme Court returned him to jail in 1996.

Legal expert Albert Hasibuan said it was impossible for the Attorney General's Office to submit another case review as Tommy's case differed from the Pakpahan case.

"The case has been through the final process and there is no possibility of reopening it. The public should accept the fact that the case is closed," he told The Jakarta Post.

Nevertheless, Rachman said that even if this case were closed, his office would continue to pursue others related to Tommy, including the assassination of Justice Syafiuddin Kartasasmita, who last year sentenced Tommy to 18 months in jail for graft.

"The verdict that overturned his conviction will not wipe out the allegations against him in other cases.

"For as long as he does not provide clarification about his involvement, we will continue to investigate his role in those cases," Rachman said.

Police have repeatedly accused Tommy, who has been on the run since November, as having masterminded the drive-by shooting of Syafiuddin and being behind a spate of bombings in the capital.

A prominent legal scholar from Surabaya-based Airlangga University, JE Sahetapy, blasted the Supreme Court's ruling that overturned its own verdict over Tommy.

Sahetapy contended that the justices had used the wrong legal instruments to conduct their review. They had used civil law and disregarded the criminal code, while the case itself was a corruption case.

"I will ask the government or the House of Representatives to establish a team to investigate this matter," said Sahetapy, himself a legislator from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle in the House Commission II on legal affairs.

Legislators Alvin Lie and Samuel Kotto from the Reform faction at the House and Effendy Choirie from the National Awakening Party (PKB) faction all demanded that the relevant authorities investigate the three justices to see whether they had been bribed or intimidated into issuing the verdict.

They are M. Taufik, Soeharto (no relation to the former president) and Geerman Hoediarto.

"I'm confused how the three justices could free Tommy, who, in the first place, does not respect the law," Alvin Lie said.

Effendy added, "It's not impossible that there was a 'stitchup' before the decision was taken."

Effendy added that he would instruct all PKB legislators at Commission II to propose to the commission that it fire the three justices and replace them with those of integrity.

Kotto agreed that the House should withdraw its support for the three justices.