Attorney General to seize Soeharto's assets

JAKARTA (JP): The Attorney General's Office will begin on Thursday confiscating assets belonging to the charity foundations owned by former president Soeharto.

Spokesman Yushar Yahya explained that one of the first properties to be seized would be the Granadi Building and the land which it occupies on Jl. H.R. Rasuna Said, South Jakarta.

However, as of Wednesday evening the office had yet to decide on how the seizure would actually proceed and whether business activities in the building would be halted during the operation.

"It's likely we will keep it (the building) open (for business) because we cannot shut down activities that do not interfere with the legal process. We won't inflict a loss on the public," he told journalists at his office.

Besides being the headquarters of all seven of Soeharto's foundations, some floors of the multistory Granadi Building are leased to private companies.

The Attorney General's Office obtained approval from the South Jakarta District Court in May to seize the land and the building. Its first action, however, was to seize documents belonging to the foundations.

Meanwhile director of investigation Ris Sihombing said that the special prosecutors team handling the Soeharto corruption case was also considering seizing a villa located in an 8,000- square meter plot of land in Megamendung, West Java.

A source in the office said the villa was believed to be the property of Zahid Husein, the treasurer of Dana Karya Abadi foundation.

The villa is suspected to have been bought using Rp 1 billion of the foundation's money.

Soeharto is suspected of abusing his presidential powers by issuing various rulings to amass wealth through his tax-free foundations.

Separately on Wednesday, former director general of tax and excise Fuad Bawazier was questioned by the Attorney General's Office over his knowledge of the exemption of tax on the foundation's accounts.

"That's a lie. A director general doesn't have the right to issue such recommendations ... only a finance minister does," he told journalists after session, which lasted one hour and 30 minutes. (bby)