Marzuki blames predecessor for slow work<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Attorney General Marzuki Darusman has blamed his
\npredecessor for his sluggish efforts in tracking down suspected
\nhidden assets and wealth belonging to former president Soeharto's
\nfamily and cronies.<\/p>\n
\"If the search to locate the assets had been started long ago,
\nwe could have obtained the documents of money transferred to
\ntheir accounts overseas through the now defunct banks,\" he told
\njournalists at his office on Friday.<\/p>\n
Marzuki, who has served as attorney general since October
\n1999, argued that his office encountered problems in tracing the
\nevidence of the existence of such assets, as the bank's documents
\nand information of the Soehartos wealth are now scattered in
\nseveral financial institutions.<\/p>\n
Such lack of information, Marzuki claimed, has become a
\nstumbling block for the government in obtaining confirmation from
\nseveral countries, including Austria and Switzerland, of the
\nproperties and bank accounts of the Soeharto family.<\/p>\n
\"Their law requires that we must provide information on the
\naccount numbers belonging to particular names before they can
\ngive us further information.<\/p>\n
\"The international community really intends to help us for
\ntheir own sake ... they don't want to be known as countries where
\nmoney which has been obtained unlawfully is kept,\" he added.<\/p>\n
Marzuki said that since the government had yet to obtain the
\nexact amount of such hidden wealth, it would use an estimated
\namount of US$15 billion as revealed by U.S. magazine Time.<\/p>\n
\"The figure was a result of two years of thorough research, so
\nwe can use it as a reference ... but it could also be more than
\nthat.\"<\/p>\n
Earlier, Marzuki said that the New Zealand government had also
\nsent a list consisting of part of the hidden assets, and that his
\noffice would soon send a team to the neighboring country to check
\non the information.<\/p>\n
Former president Soeharto faces graft charges for funneling
\nsome $571 million of state funds amassed through seven charity
\nfoundations he chaired into the businesses belonging to his
\nchildren, relatives and cronies.<\/p>\n
The case is now in the hands of the Supreme Court, since the
\nlower South Jakarta District Court dropped the charges last
\nSeptember after hearing medical arguments from a team of doctors
\nthat Soeharto is mentally and physically unfit to stand trial.<\/p>\n
In 1998, then attorney general Andi Muhammad Ghalib headed a
\nspecial team to probe Soeharto's wealth and claimed that there
\nwas $3 million found in banks in the former ruler's name.<\/p>\n
Soon after Soeharto denied the findings, the search for the
\nwealth stopped and the prosecutors halted the investigation until
\nMarzuki reopened the case against the former president in October
\n1999.<\/p>\n
Ghalib, in a biography issued earlier this week, cited that he
\nhad obtained sufficient evidence to drag Soeharto to court, but
\nthe investigation was stopped by then Army chief Gen. (ret)
\nWiranto and president B.J. Habibie.<\/p>\n
Marzuki commented that such a revelation clearly shows the
\npressures from the past regime on the prosecutors which in turn
\nhampered their investigations.<\/p>\n
\"I thank Ghalib for revealing this. I will study this
\ninformation and clarify it since the public needs to know what
\nreally happened which caused the prosecutors to halt the past
\ninvestigation into Soeharto.<\/p>\n
\"We will likely summon those involved in making the decision
\nto stop the investigation to clarify the reason behind it. If
\nthere were pressures from outsiders, then why should they have
\ncomplied?,\" he told The Jakarta Post by phone.<\/p>\n
Marzuki also revealed that Bank Indonesia had frozen accounts
\nbelonging to Soeharto's favorite son Hutomo \"Tommy\" Mandala
\nPutra, who is the convicted in a graft case and is still on the
\nrun.(bby)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/marzuki-blames-predecessor-for-slow-work-1447893297",
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