Attorney General's Office awaits order to sue Soeharto

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Attorney General's Office has declined to take the initiative to file a civil lawsuit, which was earlier sought by former Attorney General Baharuddin Lopa and supported by most legal observers, against former president Soeharto in a graft case.

"We act as attorney for the government. As of today, we have not received any instructions from the government (to file the lawsuit)," said Santoso, the director for the protection and restoration of rights.

Office spokesman Antasari Azhar added that the office could only act on behalf of "government institutions that experienced financial losses as a result of the crime."

"It could be (filed by) the president or other ministries, that suffered financial losses," he told reporters during a press conference here on Friday.

Antasari claimed that the Attorney General's Office could not seek the order actively in a bid to retrieve state funds allegedly misused by several charities during Soeharto's 32-year presidency.

The late Baharuddin Lopa pursued the idea following prosecutors' failure to bring Soeharto to justice. Soeharto has been accused of misappropriating some US$571 million from the state through a number of charities during his presidency.

Soeharto has succeeded in avoiding trial several times due to health reasons. He first managed to evade trial at the South Jakarta District Court in September, 2000.

In the same year, a medical team established by the government declared him physically and mentally unfit to stand trial.

In 2001, he also underwent a medical examination upon the instructions of the Attorney General's Office after the Supreme Court ordered medical treatment for the suspect at the state's expense so that he could be fit to stand trial.

The South Jakarta District Court turned down a request by state prosecutors in March last year to resume graft proceedings against Soeharto, arguing that he was still too weak to stand trial.

Later in August, a team of doctors announced that Soeharto suffered from aphasia, the total or partial loss of the ability to use and understand words, which limited his ability to communicate with others.

The medical examination was conducted after a newspaper ran a story about Soeharto, who was seen walking and talking during his granddaughter's wedding reception in Jakarta.