Timothy Mapes and Puspa Madani, Jakarta – Indonesia's Supreme Court overturned a graft conviction against Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, the fugitive son of former President Suharto, in a surprise decision that underlined the problems this nation faces in grappling with years of rampant corruption.
Mr. Hutomo vanished last November after the same court sentenced him to 18 months in jail for cheating a state agency out of $10 million in a 1995 land swindle. Since then, police have publicly accused Mr. Hutomo of masterminding the brutal daylight assassination of the judge who originally convicted him and organizing a string of deadly bombings, turning the 39-year old former businessman and race-car driver into Indonesia's most-wanted criminal. Mr. Hutomo's lawyers deny their client's involvement in the assassination and the bombings.
On Monday, the Supreme Court's review panel overturned last year's decision, ruling that Mr. Hutomo couldn't be held personally responsible for the activities of the company – PT Goro Batara Sakti – that engaged in the land deal because in his position as "president commissioner" he wouldn't have been involved in its day-to-day activities.
"Based on today's decision, Hutomo Mandala Putra must be freed from all the accusations related to the land-exchange case," M. Taufik, the head of the Supreme Court's judicial review panel, said in a telephone interview. "His name must be rehabilitated."
Lawyers for Mr. Hutomo praised the decision, but added that it isn't clear whether Mr. Hutomo will emerge from hiding. "I hope Tommy will appear right away to clear his name, especially the public accusation that he's involved with murder," said Nurdin Munir, one of Mr. Hutomo's lawyers. A spokesman for the Attorney General's Office, which prosecuted the land swindle charges, said it hasn't yet decided how to respond to the Supreme Court decision.
The ruling was another major blow for the Indonesian government's faltering efforts to punish the people behind the massive corruption that prevailed during the 32-year rule of Mr. Suharto – a campaign that many analysts believe is critical to the success of economic reforms here. Although it is widely believed that the former first family used its influence to amass billions of dollars through corrupt business practices, Mr. Hutomo was the only member of the former autocrat's family to be convicted. Mr. Suharto, 80, was charged last year in a separate graft case but has so far evaded prosecution by claiming that he is too ill to face trial.
The 11-month manhunt for Mr. Hutomo has also discouraged Indonesian reformists, who are convinced the often farcical nature of the chase shows how Mr. Suharto and his allies continue to wield huge influence more than three years after the former general resigned amid a popular uprising.
The police have repeatedly appeared hapless in pursuing Mr. Hutomo, convincing many people that he must be receiving assistance from Mr. Suharto's allies in the security forces. In one incident, an effort to drill into a "secret bunker" under the Suharto family compound in central Jakarta was announced well in advance through the local media and yielded little more than some old tools and kitchenware. A few months later, Mr. Hutomo was briefly apprehended in East Java, only to slip out the window of the police station when his guard left the room to make a phone call to Jakarta.