A lawyer for Tommy Suharto admitted that she had given over 600 dollars to witnesses who later changed their testimony in Tommy's murder and weapons trial.

But Elza Syarief, who has been accused by police of bribing three witnesses to recant their statements, told a professional disciplinary council on Saturday that the cash was for the witnesses to buy clothes and rent a car and driver for their court appearance.

"I gave 5.8 million rupiah [625 dollars] including three million rupiah for Marvin Hukom to rent a car, and one million each for Tatang and Rachmat to buy clothes and shoes," Syarief told the second day of the disciplinary hearing.

"They were all things they needed for their appearance at Tommy's trial ... because I had seen that they only wore rough sandals. The other 800,000 rupiah I gave out earlier so they could hire a driver," she was quoted as saying by Detik.com online news.

Syarief has been brought before the five-member ethics council by the Indonesian Advocates and Lawyers' Association (HAPI) to determine whether she violated the profession's code of ethics by bribing witnesses.

The disciplinary hearing, open to the public, has become a side-show to the high-profile trial of the fallen dictator's youngest son. It is being conducted in a four-star hotel in central Jakarta.

The witnesses, all security guards from a Jakarta apartment block used by Tommy, have allegedly told police that they received cash from Syarief to retract statements identifying Tommy as the owner of a cache of weapons found in the apartment block.

They told the Central Jakarta District Court that they had been intimidated by police into making the statements, and denied that signatures on the statements were theirs.

Tommy, once a high-rolling playboy tycoon, is being tried on charges of ordering the July 2001 assassination of Supreme Court judge Syafiuddin Kartasasmita and possessing illegal weapons. The judge had convicted Tommy of graft and sentenced him to 18 months jail 11 months earlier.

Syarief had sought the sum of 5.8 million rupiah from the Tirasa Foundation, run by Tommy's wife Tata to manage the apartment block, the foundation's secretary Barmanto (eds: one name) told the hearing earlier. Barmanto said that Syarief had asked for the money to cover the purchase of clothes for the security guard. She had been appointed the foundation's legal consultant in January, Barmanto added.

If Syarief is found to have breached the HAPI's code of ethics she could lose her licence to practice law. She has rejected calls to stand down as Tommy's lawyer during the disciplinary hearing.