Jakarta – Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra denied on Wednesday that he had bribed former president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid in his attempt to secure a pardon in 2000 in relation to a case of alleged graft.

"How can you say that I bribed him [Abdurrahman]. I was forced to give him the money," said the youngest son of former president Soeharto as quoted by Antara prior to undergoing questioning at the Jakarta Police Headquarters.

Police are investigating a complaint filed by Tommy over an alleged Rp 20 billion (US$2 million) fraud, involving two associates of the former president, Dodi Sumadi and Abdullah Siddik Muin. Tommy, Dodi and Siddik were questioned together on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Dodi stuck by his previous statement that he was a victim of a conspiracy between two powerful parties. "The meetings between Tommy and Gus Dur at the Borobudur Hotel on October 5, 2000 and at the Regent Hotel on October 6, 2000 were not ordinary meetings, but had a hidden agenda," he told reporters after the questioning, without elaborating. He said that he had minutes from both meetings and would use them as a "trump card" in the trial.

Separately, Siddik admitted to having received Rp 15 billion from Tommy. "Besides me, the money also went to Dodi [Sumadi], Thaleb Abdullah and Wiwi, both associates of Tommy, and KH Noer Iskandar SQ," Siddik said as quoted by SCTV television.

Earlier, Tommy's lawyer Elza Syarif said his client had a recording of the meetings between him and Gus Dur. "And Tommy is thinking of providing the cassette of the conversations to investigators," Elza said.

Tommy was acquitted of all charges surrounding a 1995 graft case last October. By that time, Abdurrahman was no longer president after being removed in July last year over his alleged failure to carry out the mandate imposed by the People'sConsultative Assembly (MPR) when he came to power in October 1999.