Attorney General to seize Soeharto's assets
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)