Police name Suharto son as murder suspect

Tommy Suharto has denied masterminding the murder of a judge who had earlier sentenced him on graft charges

JAKARTA, Indonesia -- Indonesian police have finished probing former President Suharto's son over his suspected link to the murder of a judge who convicted him of graft.

Police said Sunday they would hand the case to prosecutors this week, Reuters news service reports.

Jakarta deputy police spokesman Alex Mandalika said police would hand over the dossier on Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra on December 27 or 28.

"The dossier was completed on Saturday... It says that he is a suspect in the killing of the judge," Mandalika told Reuters.

In Indonesia, police need to file a dossier with prosecutors who are then responsible for charging defendants and seeking a court hearing.

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Tommy has denied masterminding the murder of Supreme Court judge Syafiuddin Kartasasmita, contradicting testimony of other suspects, police have previously said.

Kartasasmita was shot dead in his car last July while on his way to work.

Last year he sentenced Tommy to 18 months in jail for graft over a land scam, prompting the former racing car driver to go on the run for a year until his recent capture.

Police have also been investigating Tommy over a spate of bombings that mainly occurred last year.

Both crimes carry the death penalty, but many in Indonesia wonder how far authorities will go given several reverses of judgment in the graft case and Tommy's ability to stay a fugitive for so long.

Tommy's lawyer Elza Syarief told Reuters that police had in fact finished the entire probe but she declined to give details.

Suharto's favorite son has been the only member of the ex-autocrat's family to be brought to court over the graft that made Indonesia a byword for corruption.

Suharto himself is in hospital being treated for pneumonia.

Tommy lent his name to a number of lucrative deals during his father's rule.

He received special tax breaks to build and sell a national car and held a monopoly on clove trading -- the spice used in Indonesia's much-smoked kretek cigarettes.