Christmas present for Soeharto

JAKARTA: The Supreme Court will officially wash its hands of ailing former president Soeharto's on again off again trial.

"The authority to decide on whether or not Soeharto will be taken to court lies exclusively with the Attorney Generals' Office," Chief Justice Bagir Manan said in a legal opinion for the Attorney General.

The Attorney General's Office sought the Supreme Court's legal opinion after a team of doctors from Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital in Jakarta stated that Soeharto was too ill to stand trial.

The doctors claimed that Soeharto had serious heart and brain problems that made him physically and mentally unfit to sit in a trial. They said that Soeharto's ailments could not be cured by available medical approaches.

Soeharto was being investigated for allegedly misusing taxpayers' money through various foundations he chaired until he fell from power in 1998.

He began his career as a middle class military officer and after taking over the presidency in 1965, soon became one of the wealthiest men in the world.

"The Criminal Code states that the prosecutor has the authority to bring a case to a court of justice," Bagir told reporters. --JP