AGO to 'invite' MPs, not 'question' them: Marzuki
AGO to 'invite' MPs, not 'question' them: Marzuki
JAKARTA (JP): Attorney General Marzuki Darusman denied on
Monday that his office would question several members of the
House of Representatives' now-dissolved special committee on the
Bulog scandal, saying he would invite them to ask to clarify the
House's report on the scam.
"It's not really a questioning...the press made it so. We want
to invite the legislators to give further clarification and to
give them a chance to strengthen their statements in the report,"
he told journalists on Monday.
He said that the reaction of legislators who refused to come
to his office in connection with the investigation into the
financial scandal allegedly linked to President Abdurrahman Wahid
was too early since "formal invitations" had not yet been issued.
Marzuki said that his office is now taking testimonies from
the witnesses in the report and will later invite several of the
50 members of the House' special committee to give their view on
the case.
The House had earlier argued that Marzuki had no right to
question the members of the special committee because the inquiry
was done on behalf of the House and it was therefore the
legislative body as an institution which ruled that the President
was implicated in the scams, thereby entrusting the Attorney
General's Office to merely study the report.
The special committee's inquiry alleged that the President was
involved in the fraudulent withdrawal of Rp 35 billion (US$3.6
million) belonging to the employee foundation of the State
Logistics Agency (Bulog) and of US$2 million in humanitarian aid
he accepted from the Sultan of Brunei.
The inquiry result provided the House with a basis to censure
President Abdurrahman and to recommend that a legal process
follow its report. The cases are currently in the hands of the
Attorney General's Office and the National Police.
Marzuki said that at the time the House handed the case to the
two institutions, he had appealed to the legislators for
readiness to be invited to his office at any time regarding the
follow-up of the cases.
President Abdurrahman provided the permit for the Attorney
General to summon the legislators.
Marzuki stated that he had contacted Bachtiar Chamsjah, the
leader of the disbanded special committee, and that both had
agreed to further discuss his office's questioning plans.
"I've explained that such clarifications from the special
committee members are necessary, but they had reacted too fast.
Bachtiar said that personally he is willing to help our work in
probing the scandals," he said. (bby)