Soeharto ready for checkup: Marzuki<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Former president Soeharto is expected to appear
\nat Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital on Wednesday evening for a
\nmedical examination to be conducted by a team of doctors
\nappointed by the Attorney General's Office.<\/p>\n
Facing a stern demonstration at his office, Attorney General
\nMarzuki Darusman told student protesters on Tuesday that
\nSoeharto, a suspect in a high-profile corruption case, had agreed
\nto have his health checked.<\/p>\n
\"This measure means that we have taken a step in the
\ninvestigation and it shows that the medical team is working,\" he
\nsaid, denying accusations that his office was slow in handling
\nthe case.<\/p>\n
Last week, doctors failed to appear at Soeharto's residence
\nfor a medical reexamination of the ailing former ruler.<\/p>\n
Marzuki, however, refused to identify the doctors, saying they
\nhad received threats and pressure from certain parties that might
\nprevent the medical examination.<\/p>\n
The deputy attorney general for corruption, Chairul Imam, said
\nthat the medical team comprises six or seven doctors and their
\nnames were kept secret in order \"to enable them to work
\nundisturbed\".<\/p>\n
Some 100 protesters who claimed to represent the Students
\nForum for Reform and Democracy (Famred) staged their second rally
\nin two weeks to push the Attorney General's Office to bring
\nSoeharto and his cronies to justice as soon as possible.<\/p>\n
Soeharto has been named a suspect by the Attorney General's
\nOffice, overruling a decision by Marzuki's predecessor,
\nIsmudjoko, who suspended the investigation last October due to a
\nlack of evidence.<\/p>\n
The 78-year-old former president failed to answer the summons
\nto appear at the Attorney General's Office last month due to his
\nalleged ill-health.<\/p>\n
His lawyers earlier insisted that Soeharto was not medically
\nfit to undergo questioning.<\/p>\n
One of Soeharto's defense lawyers, Juan Felix Tampubolon, said
\non Tuesday night that he was not aware of the date set for his
\nclient's medical exam.<\/p>\n
\"But if the doctors asked for a medical checkup, we would
\nfirst ask our client's medical team whether the examination is
\nnecessary.<\/p>\n
\"If it is necessary than we would ask for our client's
\nagreement to undergo the examination. Even if he agreed, it
\nshould only be conducted at the proper time, they cannot just
\nrush in,\" Tampubolon told The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
Members of the House of Representatives Commission IX for
\nfinancial and development planning affairs also tried to meet
\nSoeharto last month at his residence on Jl. Cendana, Central
\nJakarta, in a bid to question him over possible abuses in
\nchanneling liquidity support from Bank Indonesia to local banks,
\nwhich were owned by his friends and relatives.<\/p>\n
Soeharto has been accused of amassing a fortune during his
\nthree decades in office.<\/p>\n
U.S. business magazine Forbes last year estimated Soeharto's
\nfamily fortune at some US$4 billion. Time magazine, which
\nSoeharto is suing, has put the figure at about $15 billion. (01)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/soeharto-ready-for-checkup-marzuki-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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