Attorney General seizes Granadi Building

JAKARTA (JP): The Attorney General's Office confiscated on Friday the Granadi Building on Jl. H.R. Rasuna Said, South Jakarta, which belongs to the foundations owned by former president Soeharto.

Officials came to the building one-day later than had been planned and placed a cardboard sign in front of the building's lobby notifying the public of the seizure.

But the Attorney General's Director of Investigation Ris Pandapotan Sihombing, in charge of the operation, said the new status would not disrupt the activities of the various businesses, including the foundations themselves, which have rented space in the building.

"The foundations can run as usual," he told journalists.

The seizure is part of the investigation by the Attorney General's Office of former president Soeharto who is suspected of abusing his presidential power by issuing various decrees and regulations to amass wealth through his tax-free foundations.

Attorney General Marzuki Darusman has repeatedly expressed optimism that the Soeharto case is now near completion.

Besides being office to several business, the building is the headquarters of six of Soeharto's tax-free charity foundations -- Supersemar, Dana Karya Abadi, Darmandiri, Dharmais, Amal Bakti Muslim Pancasila and Purnabakti Pertiwi.

Sihombing explained that the foundations had been supervised by the coordinating ministry for people's welfare and poverty eradication, while the maintenance of the building is controlled by PT Granadi of which most shares are held by the Dakab foundation.

Built in the early 1990s, the Granadi Building is estimated to have cost about Rp 3 billion, and maintenance registered under Zahid Hussein treasurer of the Dakab foundation, Sihombing said.

Zahid Hussein is also the owner of a villa in Megamendung district, West Java, which was also seized by the Attorney General's Office on Thursday.

The villa is said to have been bought in 1997 for Rp 1 billion of the foundation's money.

Head of Kuningan subdistrict, Mat Iji, who witnessed the seizure, said that a square meter of land in the busiest business district in Jakarta costs Rp 11 million today.

A state prosecutor handling Soeharto's case, Suriansjah, said the confiscation of Granadi was aimed at avoiding the possibility of the foundations transferring the ownership of the 8,125 square meter plot of land and 29,945 square meter multistory building.

"If, in a trial, it is found that no crime has occurred in the ownership of the building and the land, they will be returned to the owner," Suriansjah told journalists at the scene.

The confiscation was also witnessed by the Kuningan regent Momo Nasrudin, PT Granadi executive Adi Sudjatmiko and the foundations' lawyers: Hotma Sitompoel, Ruhut Sitompul, Tomy Sihotang and Mario C. Fernando. (bby)