A team of RSCM doctors to treat Soeharto

A team of RSCM doctors to treat Soeharto

JAKARTA (JP): State prosecutors appointed on Wednesday doctors
of the state-run Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital (RSCM) in Central
Jakarta to undertake the medical treatment of former president
Soeharto, a defendant in a US$571 million corruption case.

Antasari Azhar, head of the South Jakarta Prosecutors' Office
who is handling the case, said that the hospital, in coordination
with the health ministry, will soon set up a team of doctors to
treat the ailing former ruler until he is declared fit enough to
stand trial.

"The hospital's management alongside the health ministry is
likely to establish the team next week," he told journalists.

The hospital was appointed to take care of Soeharto following
a decision issued earlier this month by the Supreme Court
ordering prosecutors to put Soeharto's medication under the
government's supervision and expense.

The trial against Soeharto was dropped by South Jakarta
District Court judges after hearing a medical assessment that the
79-year-old former president was physically and mentally unfit to
face any legal proceedings.

The decision was corroborated by the Supreme Court which
ordered the prosecutors to make sure that Soeharto's condition is
conducive before the case can be reopened.

According to the assessments of several teams of doctors,
Soeharto's speech is disturbed and he can only comprehend simple
statements as the result of three strokes he suffered after
leaving the presidential post in 1998. His lawyers said such
illness is permanent.

The Attorney General's Office is also handling the case of
Soeharto's younger half-brother, magnate Probosutedjo, who is a
suspect in the marking up of a government loan obtained from the
reforestation fund.

PT Menara Hutan Buana, a joint venture of Probosutedjo's
company PT Wonogung Djinawi and state-owned forestry company PT
Inhutani II, had claimed managing a 71,042 hectare estate in
South Kalimantan and had received a Rp 144 billion soft loan to
sustain it in 1994.

The prosecutors revealed that the company only sustained a
41,212 hectare estate and in fact only owes Rp 95.4 billion in
loans.

Spokesman of the Attorney General's Office Muljohardjo
announced later on Wednesday that they had banned Probosutedjo,
as well as three former directors of Bank Indonesia from
traveling abroad.

On Tuesday, the office named Hendro Budiyanto, Paul Sutopo and
Heru Supraptomo suspects in the misappropriation of central bank
emergency loans to ailing banks.

In an interview with The Jakarta Post and private television
station RCTI, Probosutedjo said on Wednesday that his status as a
suspect in the case was fabricated, in connection with the
government's campaign to handle corruption cases.

Probosutecjo, the director of PT Menara, said the three-day
survey conducted by the Coordinating Body for Survey and National
Charting Development Board and the Attorney General's Office
wasn't accurate.

"They missed counting trees which were in their early stages
of growth and still under half-meter in height while assessing
from a helicopter the extensive area, spread out across three
regencies. The estate was planted step by step due to a severe
dry season in 1997, part of the climatic effect of the El Nino
tropical storm."

"I still say that we sustain more than 70,000 hectares of
estate," he said at his office in Menteng area, Central Jakarta.

He said that the case may distract foreign investors, who had
planned to establish a pulp company, and form a partnership with
PT Menara in South Kalimantan worth $1.2 billion.

Probosutedjo explained that PT Menara only received Rp 100
billion in loans, while the Rp 44 billion was the worth of the 40
percent of shares belonging to PT Inhutani II in the firm.

"Although PT Wonogung, where I'm a director, had bought all
Inhutani II shares in December 2000, the commissioners of PT
Menara are still from the finance ministry and Inhutani II.

"All financial policies are made during the shareholders'
meeting and not merely by me, so I cannot be held solely
responsible in the case," he said, adding that he is ready to
fulfill the summons of the prosecutors. (bby)