Indonesian police will investigate former and current officers who may have helped Tommy Suharto during his year-long flight from justice.

A team from national police headquarters will carry out the investigation as soon as possible, said deputy spokesman Chief Commissioner Prasetyo on Monday.

Tommy, the youngest son of the former dictator, told his murder trial last Wednesday that for most of his time as a fugitive he stayed in his own house. Asked by the judge how he could have stayed there, often for up to two weeks at a time, he said "because of coordination" but did not elaborate.

Tommy is on trial for possessing weapons and for ordering the contract killing in July 2001 of supreme court judge Syafiuddin Kartasasmita. Both offences are punishable by death. Tommy has maintained his innocence of the charges.

In September 2000 the supreme court headed by Kartasasmita had overturned an acquittal by a lower court and ordered Tommy jailed for 18 months for a corrupt land deal. Tommy applied for a presidential pardon and a judicial review but President Abdurrahman Wahid in October that year rejected his pardon request.

He failed to turn himself in to serve the jail term by the November 3, 2000 deadline and went on the run. Police staged a year-long high-profile hunt for Tommy but questions were raised at the time about how serious they were. "We are investigating this case based on his testimony to the court," Prasetyo told AFP.

National police chief General Da'i Bachtiar, quoted by Monday's newspapers, said he expected the team to wrap up its investigation in a month.