Detention status of Soeharto changed to city arrest

JAKARTA (JP): In an apparent move to smooth the way for the prosecution of former president Soeharto, the South Jakarta District Court changed the defendant's detention status on Tuesday from house arrest to city arrest.

M. Yusuf, a clerk at the South Jakarta District Court, said the issuance of the new status was in anticipation of the beginning of Soeharto's corruption trial later this month.

"The new detention status for former president Soeharto was handed over to his family, through one of his defense lawyers, O.C. Kaligis, earlier today (Wednesday)," he said.

"The decree on the defendant's new detention status was signed by the head of the South Jakarta District Court, Lalu Mariyun, on Tuesday.

"The city arrest status, valid for 30 days, became effective on Aug. 3, 2000," he said.

The decree automatically nullified a previous decree, issued by the assistant for special crimes investigation at the Jakarta Prosecutor's Office, Andi Syarifuddin, on Aug. 3, 2000, which put the former strongman under house arrest. This decree was to have been valid until Aug. 22.

The South Jakarta District Court received the dossiers on Soeharto on Tuesday, but has yet to decide on the schedule or venue for the trial.

Lalu Mariyun hinted the initial hearing would be held after the Aug. 18 completion of the ongoing Annual Session of the People's Consultative Assembly.

Mariyun repeated on Wednesday that the court had yet to decide on a venue for the trial, but insisted it would be held within the court's jurisdiction.

Asked why it was taking so long for the court to announce a venue for the trial, he said it had to consider the fact that there were no courtrooms large enough to hold the trial and also had to address security problems.

Mariyun, however, expected the trial would proceed smoothly. "I hope there will be no outside intervention in the court trial."

Bob Hasan

In a separate development, the Attorney General's Office completed on Wednesday the dossiers on timber tycoon Mohammad "Bob" Hasan, who is accused of graft which caused some US$75.62 million in losses to the state and some $168 million in losses to the Indonesian Forest Concessionaires Association, which he chaired from 1992 to 1997.

Hasan, who briefly served as the minister of industry and trade, has been detained in a cell in the Attorney General's Office since March 28, after being named a suspect in a $87 million fraud case involving a 1992 government contract to perform aerial mapping and airborne radar imaging of the country's forestry resources.

The project was awarded to Hasan, Soeharto's one-time golfing buddy, and was completed by one of his companies, PT Mapindo Parama.

The director of investigation at the Attorney General's Office, Ris Pandapotan Sihombing, handed over three bundles of dossiers, each consisting of around 3,000 pages, to Mochtar Arifin, the director of prosecution at the Attorney General's Office.

"The case will likely be handed over to the Jakarta Prosecutor's Office on Thursday," Mochtar said.

Along with the dossiers, the investigators also submitted evidence from the case, including a seized BMW sedan, the building and land belonging to PT Mapindo Parama, the photos of the aerial mapping project and documents. (bby)