Attorney General seizes Granadi Building
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)