Witness testifies that Tommy tried to bribe Syafiuddin

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A widow of Supreme Court Justice M. Syafiuddin Kartasasmita, who was murdered allegedly upon the orders of Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, told the court on Wednesday details of Tommy's attempt to bribe the deceased.

Syafiuddin's second wife, Iwah Setyawati, told the Central Jakarta District Court that Tommy had offered Rp 200 million (US$ 21,300) to persuade Syafiudin to rule in his favor.

Iwah showed a piece of paper, which was signed by Tommy's lawyer Elza Syarief, saying that Rp 100 million of the money would be given to Syafiuddin, Rp 50 million to Iwah and the rest to Elza.

To follow up the offer, Tommy, accompanied by Elza, Elza's husband, businessman Kennedy "Kenny" Nanik and Tommy's body guard Dedi Sutaedi Yusuf, came to meet Syafiuddin at Iwah's house in Cipayung, East Jakarta, in October 2000.

During the meeting, Iwah asserted she heard Tommy say to her husband," "Sir, please help me."

Later in October, however, Syafiuddin sentenced Tommy to 18 months in jail for a graft case.

Tommy absconded from justice in November after his request for a presidential pardon was turned down.

Syafiuddin was shot to death in July last year, when Tommy was still on the run.

Tommy has been charged with masterminding the murder, illegal possession of firearms in Cemara Apartments, Central Jakarta, and in Pondok Indah, South Jakarta; and with fleeing from justice.

Tommy, who was arrested last November, did not reject Iwah testimony in Wednesday's hearing.

He only said, "I don't know."

Iwah replied quickly, "How come? You were there at the time."

But Tommy kept silent.

Earlier, chief prosecutor Hasan Madani asked the judges to dismiss Elza as Tommy's lawyer because she was involved in the case.

"There might be a conflict of interest should she continue to represent her client," he said. "She should be here as a witness, not as Tommy's lawyer."

He said that Elza was also present when the police raided Cemara Apartments in search of Tommy.

Elza, however, refused to step down as Tommy's lawyer.

The judges did not seem to get Hasan's point.

Presiding Judge Amiruddin Zakaria, after discussing the case with the other judges, asked Iwah whether she felt threatened by Elza's presence. As Iwah said no, the judges rejected Hasan's request.

The issue about Elza and the bribery is actually nothing new as it had been reported by the media last year. But until today, the police have not questioned Elza about it.

The Association of Indonesian Lawyers and Advocates (HAPI), of which Elza is a member, also refused to probe the case.

Two weeks ago, the police announced that Elza had attempted to bribe security guards of Cemara Apartment to retract statements that linked Tommy to the illegal firearms and ammunition found in the apartment.

Rahmat Hidayat and Tatang Somantri have admitted that they received Rp 2 million ($213) each from Elza to lie before the court. They are now being detained by the police.

Elza, who is usually friendly to reporters, refused to comment on the matter.

"No comment, no comment, no comment," she said on the sidelines of the hearing.

The police have announced they would summon Elza in the case. But there has been no indication that she would be questioned soon.

On Wednesday, the court also confronted two alleged murderers of Syafiuddin, R. Maulawarman and Noval Hadad, with eyewitnesses Jurianto, Jumbadi and Sahrudin.

The witnesses said they saw Noval Hadad shoot Syafiuddin.

"It's him. He was the one who pointed the pistol at me," said Jurianto said.

Interestingly, Noval smiled when the witness pointed to him.