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)