Tommy's home seized to secure his assets

JAKARTA (JP): South Jakarta prosecutors seized the home of Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, the youngest son of former president Soeharto, in Menteng, Central Jakarta in an effort to secure the fugitive's private assets.

At the same time, police again searched his father's home, but once more failed to find Tommy, who was named the nation's most wanted fugitive early this month after he was convicted of graft in a land swap deal that caused Rp 76.7 billion in state losses.

Separately, a former senior police detective, Commander Gen. (ret) Koesparmono Irsan, said police were allowed to shoot Tommy if he resists arrest, since he was no longer under the protection of the force.

"If during the arrest Tommy tries to run away, police can shoot Tommy after firing a warning shot," Koesparmono, who is also a member of the rights commission, said.

The head of the South Jakarta Prosecutor's Office, Antasari Azhar, said Tommy's 1,317-square-meter home, which faces Jl. Yusuf Adiwinata and Jl. Cendana, would only be returned if Tommy paid Rp 30.6 billion as ruled recently by the Supreme Court.

"Today's seizure was to anticipate Tommy refusing to pay all of or only some of the amount established by the court, or if he changes the ownership of the house to someone else's name," Antasari said.

He added that the house and property were under Tommy's name.

The seizure of the house was witnessed by Tommy's wife Ardhia Pramesti Rigita Cahyani, also known as Tata.

Juan Felix Tampubolon, a lawyer of the former first family, said Tata would most likely sue the prosecutors over arbitrary seizure of her belongings, claiming the couple had a prenuptial agreement allowing them to share ownership of the property.

"Ibu Tata refused to sign the seizure notice but signed for the entrustment of the house," Juan said.

Tata refused to talk to journalists.

After Tuesday's search of the Soeharto family residence, Jakarta Criminal Investigation Police chief Sr. Supt. Harry Montolalu declared that Tommy was still missing.

"We have searched every room but there is no Tommy. We even looked for him in Soeharto's bedroom," he said.

"I went in and checked Bapak's room," Harry said.

"He was lying there sick on an IV drip, but Tommy was not there. I couldn't talk to Bapak because he was asleep, sick and breathing with the help of an oxygen mask."

The police and the prosecutors, divided into 18 teams, searched on Tuesday morning six houses which were believed to be connected to each other with a bunker underground.

"We looked everywhere and there is no bunker," Montolalu said.

National Police chief Gen. Surojo Bimantoro said the force would not hold negotiations regarding Tommy's arrest.

"We'll carry out the arrest immediately if we find him. There will be no negotiations," Bimantoro said after the celebration of the 55th Anniversary of the Police Mobile Brigade.

Separately in Yogyakarta, human rights activist Nursjahbani Katjasungkana said President Abdurrahman Wahid had a secret agreement with Tommy which allowed him to escape.

"The failure to arrest Tommy may tarnish the image of the current administration," she said.

Later in the day, lawyer Juan said that Soeharto is now in stable condition but is still being given oxygen after his health deteriorated on Monday morning.

"Pak Harto is now resting. We're slated to tell Bapak about the Jakarta High Court's verdict to continue his trial but it's likely that we have to delay as the doctors suggested," he said.

"Until now, Bapak does not know the latest development in his case," he added.

Separately, Muhammad Assegaf, another lawyer of Soeharto, said that he and the other team of lawyers are scheduled to file an appeal this week with the Supreme Court against a recent Jakarta High Court decision to bring the US$571 million graft trial against Soeharto back into court.

"All Soeharto's lawyers are going to meet at our client's residence on Jl. Cendana this evening to discuss the content of the Supreme Court appeal," he told The Jakarta Post.

"We will file it either on Wednesday or Thursday. There are some technical violations the High Court committed in issuing its decision. We are going to focus on that."

The High Court overturned last Wednesday a lower court verdict which ordered a halt into Soeharto's trial for alleged graft.

The Jakarta High Court also ordered the resumption of Soeharto's city arrest status.

Presiding judge Gde Soedharta announced the decision last Wednesday, stating that the High Court had accepted the prosecutors' appeal and thus ordered the South Jakarta District court to reopen, retry and issue a verdict on the graft case. (44/jaw/ylt/bby)