Two year jail term sought for Tommy's bodyguards
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
A state prosecutor sought a two-year jail term for two of Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra's bodyguards on Wednesday for their role in the forgery of documents, used by their boss while on the run from the authorities.
Prosecutor Maju Ambarita told South Jakarta District Court that both defendants Dedi Sutaedi Yusuf, 34, and Ferry Hukom, 40, committed the crime to help Tommy escape capture by the police.
The youngest son of former president Soeharto became a fugitive in November 2000 when he avoided the authorities after the Supreme Court had sentenced him to 18 months in jail for corruption.
The case started in May last year when fugitive Tommy phoned Dedi and requested a passport. Dedi and Ferry then visited South Jakarta Immigration Office on Jl. Warung Buncit Raya the following month.
They met newspaper seller Martunus, alias Buyung, a middleman who arranges illegal documents. Dedi asked Buyung to forge documents needed to obtain a passport, including an ID card, birth certificate and a family registration card.
Dedi paid Buyung Rp 500,000 and gave him two photographs of Tommy with a beard and moustache. On the back of the photos was written 'Ibrahim'.
Buyung went to a restaurant in the Halim area, East Jakarta, to pass over the illegal documents to Ferry, who signed the ID card of Ibrahim.
Dedi, who received the documents from Ferry, delivered them in to Hetty Siti Hartika, Tommy's close friend. Hetty handed it to Tommy on July 15 at the Grand Melia Hotel in Kuningan, South Jakarta.
Hetty, 39, is currently facing charges at Central Jakarta District Court for the illegal possession of ammunition.
Meanwhile, in another courtroom, Dody Harjito is being tried for allegedly following Tommy's order to contact R. Maulawarman, alias Molla, to murder Supreme Court Justice M. Sjafiuddin Kartasasmita, who had sentenced Tommy to 18 months in jail for graft.
A witness, Nur Aini Thamrin, told the court that in May 2001 Dody rented her house in Pondok Indah, South Jakarta, for Rp 30 million a year.
Nur admitted she knew that Tommy used the house as a hiding place, but did not report it to the police.
On Aug. 6 last year, the police found the fake documents, dozens of weapons and explosives in the house that Nur rented out.
The house was rented by Dody, who lived nearby on Jl. Bukit Hijau, allegedly in an attempt to hide Tommy.
Another witness, Molla, testified in Dody's case that Tommy was Dody's boss.
But he retracted his previous statement that Tommy had ordered him to murder Syafiuddin.
Currently, Molla and Noval Hadad are being tried at Central Jakarta District Court for allegedly shooting Syafiuddin dead.
Ironically, although Tommy's men have been sent to court, the state has yet to try Tommy.
The police delivered two dossiers of Tommy to the State Prosecutor's Office about two weeks ago. The first dossier was related to the murder of Syafiuddin, while the second was linked to the illegal possession of firearms.
However, the prosecutor's office returned the first dossier to the police due to incomplete information, which is needed to build an indictment against Tommy.