Swiss offers help but no freeze on Soeharto assets<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (Agencies): The Swiss federal authorities in Berne on
\nMonday told visiting Indonesian Minister of Justice Muladi and
\nAttorney General Andi Ghalib that they were willing to help
\nsearch for any assets hidden in the country by former president
\nSoeharto, but could not immediately freeze them.<\/p>\n
Swiss Justice Minister Ruth Metzler and Foreign Affairs
\nMinister Joseph Deiss told the Indonesian official delegation
\nthat Switzerland was ready to help, but that \"the way to obtain
\nsuch assistance is for the Indonesian authorities to submit an
\nofficial request for international mutual assistance,\" the
\nministers said in a joint statement, reported by Reuters.<\/p>\n
As reported earlier, Muladi and Ghalib, plus three other
\nofficials, were in Berne on President B.J. Habibie's assignment
\nto clarify a Time report of the alleged transfer of US$9 billion
\nby Soeharto from a Swiss bank to an account in Austria.<\/p>\n
From Switzerland, the delegation will then go to Austria.<\/p>\n
Separately, the Berne Declaration, a Swiss advocacy group, on
\nMonday made public a letter dated May 29 addressed to Ghalib and
\nMuladi urging them to freeze and repatriate Soeharto's wealth.<\/p>\n
\"We call on you to prosecute former president Soeharto and
\nother members of his family based on the evidence which has been
\nproduced so far, and to request international legal assistance
\nfrom the governments in Switzerland and other countries in order
\nto freeze, investigate, and repatriate ill-gotten wealth of the
\nSoeharto family,\" the group wrote in the letter.<\/p>\n
The Berne Declaration cited data compiled by critics George J.
\nAditjondro about the links between the Soehartos and Swiss banks
\nand corporations.<\/p>\n
It added that Soeharto and his children had made at least
\nthree private visits to Switzerland between 1996 and 1998.<\/p>\n
Switzerland froze assets belonging to ex-dictator Ferdinand
\nMarcos of the Philippines almost immediately after he was ousted
\nin 1986.<\/p>\n
U.S.-based Time magazine in its May 24 edition published
\nreports that Soeharto and his family built up a $15 billion
\nfortune.<\/p>\n
Soeharto, who will be 78 next Tuesday, has appeared on
\ntelevision here to deny the reports and has threatened legal
\naction against the weekly.<\/p>\n
Indonesia's former strongman visited Ghalib's office in South
\nJakarta last Thursday to give the government power of attorney to
\ntrace and seize any overseas accounts registered under his name.<\/p>\n
One of his lawyers, Juan Felix Tampubolon, told The Jakarta
\nPost on Tuesday night that Soeharto was scheduled to file a
\nlawsuit against the magazine at National Police Headquarters in
\nSouth Jakarta on Wednesday morning.<\/p>\n
\"We plan to go to the headquarters at 7:30 a.m.,\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"They (Time) give us no choice. We'll go through this process
\nto find justice,\" Juan said.<\/p>\n
A day after Soeharto's appearance at Ghalib's office, the
\nAttorney General's Office summoned his second son, Bambang
\nTrihatmodjo, for questioning about the latter's alleged $3
\nbillion wealth reported by Time.<\/p>\n
Soeharto's eldest daughter, Siti Hardijanti \"Tutut\" Rukmana,
\ncame to the office for the same reason, with the magazine
\nestimating her wealth at $700 million.<\/p>\n
Like their father, the two children of the former first family
\nwere guarded by plain clothes military officers.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, the former president's eldest son, Sigit
\nHarjojudanto, appeared at the same office.<\/p>\n
He was questioned for more than seven hours and had to answer
\n23 questions based on the same report, which estimated his wealth
\nof $800 million.<\/p>\n
Sigit refused to speak to reporters.<\/p>\n
His lawyer, Juan said his client had denied Time's report but
\nacknowledged that he and wife Elsye Sigit owned two houses in
\nLondon as stated in the article.<\/p>\n
\"One of the correct details is that he has two houses in
\nLondon, but one of them belongs to his wife. The other reports
\nare inaccurate,\" the lawyer said.<\/p>\n
Time reported the houses are located in exclusive residential
\nareas of Hampstead.<\/p>\n
Besides the houses, reported to be worth $12 million each,
\nSigit also admitted that he had a 40 percent of share holdings in
\nhis younger brother Hutomo \"Tommy\" Mandala Putra's Humpuss Group.<\/p>\n
He also admitted that he had a 2.5 percent share in the Bali
\nCliff Hotel and Nikko Bali on the country's popular resort island
\nand a 10 percent share at PT Nusantara Ampera Bakti -- a widely
\ndiversified company partly owned by Soeharto's golfing buddy
\nMohamad \"Bob\" Hasan.<\/p>\n
According to a tentative schedule, Tommy will take his turn
\ntoday at the office. (emf)<\/p>",
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