Jakarta – Taking the stand for the first time, Tommy Suharto told a packed courtroom yesterday that Indonesia's security forces had protected him while he was on the run for a year.

The son of former president Suharto denied that he had killed a Supreme Court judge but admitted that he had tried to bribe associates of a former president to clear him of corruption charges.

Tommy, whose real name is Hutomo Mandala Putra, is accused of masterminding the assassination of Judge Syafiuddin Kartasasmita in July last year after the judge sentenced him to 18 months in prison for a multi-million-dollar real-estate scam. He is also charged with two counts of illegal weapons possession and evading justice.

He was arrested in November last year after a high-profile manhunt, and he offered new details yesterday about his year on the run.

He argued that he never was a fugitive, saying he had spent most of his time at homes he owned in Jakarta or in holiday cottages across Java.

"Most of the time I spent in my own house," he said. "There was coordination with the (Indonesian security forces). It was safe there." His testimony appeared to confirm allegations by human-rights activists that police had protected Tommy on orders from his father. Police could not be reached for comment.

Appearing relaxed and joking with the judges, Tommy insisted he did not know the two hit men convicted of killing Judge Kartasasmita.

He admitted that he once had met the judge in private. But he insisted that it was only to ask why his appeal to the Supreme Court had been turned down.

"I would never do that," Tommy said, when asked if he ordered the judge's murder. "When I met him, everything was fine ... I was not angry at the judge because I knew he was under political pressure." Tommy said he also met then-president Abdurrahman Wahid in October 2000 to seek a presidential pardon after his corruption conviction.