Soeharto named suspect in graft investigation<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Attorney General Marzuki Darusman said on
\nTuesday that former president Soeharto was fit enough and would
\nbe questioned as a suspect in alleged corruption during his 32
\nyears in power.<\/p>\n
\"We will have to look into the possibility (because) we
\nunderstand that he is now healthy again,\" Marzuki told reporters
\nafter meeting with the House of Representatives Commission II for
\nlegal and home affairs.<\/p>\n
Marzuki said, however, that he would first have to study \"the
\nimmediate possibility of summoning Mr. Soeharto to physically
\nshow up at the Attorney General's Office\".<\/p>\n
Soeharto visited the Attorney General's Office early this year
\nto declare his innocence when pressure mounted on B.J. Habibie's
\ngovernment to investigate alleged corruption by his predecessor.<\/p>\n
At the conclusion of the year-long probe carried out during
\nHabibie's 16-month term, then attorney general Ismudjoko
\nannounced his office was dropping the investigation due to lack
\nof evidence. Soeharto was never named a suspect then.<\/p>\n
Marzuki announced on Monday that he was reopening the
\ninvestigation into alleged corruption by the former longtime
\nruler.<\/p>\n
He said new evidence had been discovered to warrant the
\nresumption of the investigation into 78-year-old Soeharto.<\/p>\n
Marzuki said evidence pointed to \"a misuse of power and
\nauthority\" in issuing government regulations and presidential
\ndecrees to amass funds for foundations linked to Soeharto, his
\nfamily and associates.<\/p>\n
Marzuki later said that Soeharto had been named a suspect in
\nthe investigation.<\/p>\n
\"We are reopening the investigation and by definition and as a
\nconsequence, Mr. Soeharto is clearly a suspect in the case,\"
\nMarzuki said, adding that the former president would be charged
\nwith abuse of power.<\/p>\n
One of Soeharto's lawyers, Juan Felix Tampubolon, was furious
\nwith the attorney general, arguing that once an investigation was
\nofficially dropped it could not be reopened.<\/p>\n
Juan contended that Marzuki's move was politically motivated,
\nand had nothing to do with his desire to uphold the supremacy of
\nthe law.<\/p>\n
Marzuki, however, defended his move on Tuesday, saying that
\nhis decision to reopen the investigation into Soeharto was \"based
\npurely on new findings\".<\/p>\n
\"I do not quite agree with it (Juan's comment), but if he
\nmeans that this decision is widely supported by the public then,
\nyes, that's a fact,\" Marzuki said.<\/p>\n
Earlier in the day, Marzuki told legislators that his office
\nhad a strong legal basis to resume the investigation into
\nSoeharto.<\/p>\n
\"The policy to drop the investigation due to insufficient
\nevidence (in October) was only a temporary decision and that
\ndecision did not rule out the possibility of reopening the
\ninvestigation should new evidence be found in the future,\"
\nMarzuki said.<\/p>\n
Soeharto has been twice hospitalized this year for a stroke
\nand intestinal bleeding.<\/p>\n
His lawyers had said Soeharto was in poor health and unable to
\nspeak, but he appeared in good health last month when he visited
\nthe tomb of his late wife Tien in her former Central Java
\nhometown of Surakarta.<\/p>\n
When asked whether Soeharto's children would also be
\nquestioned in the renewed investigation, Marzuki said: \"We are
\nnot ruling out possibilities, if the investigation leads to that,
\nthen that would be a consequence of the investigation.\" (byg)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/soeharto-named-suspect-in-graft-investigation-1447893297",
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