'Witness paid to lie in Tommy case'

'Witness paid to lie in Tommy case'

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Jakarta Police detained on Monday a security guard for alleged
perjury during the trial of former president Soeharto's youngest
son Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra.

Suspect Rahmat Hidayat, who used to work at the Soeharto
family's Cemara Apartment in Menteng, Central Jakarta, had
admitted that he was paid Rp 2 million by Tommy's lawyers, City
Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Anton Bachrul Alam said.

In return, he made false statements and withdrew his earlier
statements to police, Anton said.

Rahmat, who was arrested on Sunday at his house in Tangerang,
made the confession with the presence of his lawyer Nudirman
Munir, who once represented Tommy.

Anton said police were still investigating who exactly bribed
Rahmat.

Asked if he planned to question any of Tommy's lawyers -- Elza
Syarief, Juan Felix Tampubolon and M. Assegaf -- Anton did not
give a yes or no answer.

"The police want to know everything behind all of this, about
why he retracted his earlier statements (which implicated
Tommy)," he said.

He also said that police would also question Laimin and Tatang
Somantri, former security guards at Cemara Apartment who also
testified in Tommy's trial.

During the court hearing on Wednesday, the three witnesses
retracted their statements made to police and denied that the
signatures on the statements were theirs.

In the police dossiers, they said that the firearms that were
found in Cemara Apartment belonged to Tommy.

Anyone who gives a false testimony in a criminal court is
subject to a nine-month jail term.

Tommy is being tried at the Central Jakarta District Court for
illegal possession of firearms and ammunition, the murder of
Supreme Court Justice M. Syafiuddin Kartasasmita and fleeing from
justice. Syafiuddin was one of the judges who convicted Tommy of
graft.

Tommy's chief defense lawyer Elza called a press conference
later on Monday to deny that the lawyers had ever bribed or
threatened witnesses.

"The accusation that we paid witnesses is not true. How can we
reach them?" she said.

This was not the first time that Elza was alleged to have been
involved in a bribery case. Last year, Syafiuddin's second wife
told a TV station that Elza offered to pay Syafiuddin Rp 200
million.

Elza denied that report, too.

Early in 2001, when Tommy was still a fugitive, the police
named Tommy's other lawyer, Tampubolon, as a suspect for lying
about Tommy's whereabouts.

But there was no follow up to the case.

Legal observers believe that defendants or their lawyers can
influence witnesses due to the lack of witness protection laws
here. They might threaten the witnesses or pay them to give
testimony that will favor the defendants.

"The lack of the witness protection laws is a poor reality
amid the country's attempts at legal reform," said noted lawyer
Todung Mulya Lubis.

The idea was shared by Topo Santoso, a lecturer of the
University of Indonesia's School of Law, and Irianto Subiakto of
the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute.

At a court hearing three weeks ago, Sainah, a former housemaid
in Cemara Apartments, told the court that the firearms in the
apartment belonged to Tommy. She is the only witness who did not
retract her statement about Tommy's involvement in the crime.

Witnessed by the judges, prosecutors, lawyers and visitors,
Tommy "threatened" Sainah by saying, "For the sake of the
witness' safety, I would not question her..."

Presiding judge Amiruddin Zakaria did not warn the defendant
about his statement.