Habibie arrives, saying he's ready to face questioning

Habibie arrives, saying he's ready to face questioning

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Former president B.J. Habibie said on Sunday he was ready to face
questioning at the Attorney General's Office on Monday in
connection with a Rp 40 billion scandal implicating the Golkar
Party's chairman, and his former minister Akbar Tandjung.

Speaking to the media upon his arrival in the capital on
Sunday, Habibie, who is currently residing in Germany, asserted
his commitment to upholding the law.

"I am ready any time (to face questioning). I will clarify
everything for the investigators," he told reporters at his
residence on Jl. Patra Kuningan XIII No. 1-3, South Jakarta, upon
his arrival from Germany.

Attorney General's Office spokesman Barman Zahir said that the
office, in cooperation with the South Jakarta Police, had made
ready extra security measures for the high-profile questioning.

The investigators had earlier sent three summonses to Habibie.
The latest, dated Feb. 8, required him to appear for questioning
on Feb. 18.

Through his lawyers, Habibie said he had been unable to comply
with the summonses because he felt obliged to accompany his wife,
Hasri Ainun, who is having medical treatment in Germany.

The former president, who left the country two years ago,
arrived at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport at about 10.30
a.m. on Sunday.

His brother Suyatim Abdulrachman, daughter-in-law Widya Thareq
Kemal and grandchildren welcomed Habibie, who has now grown a
moustache.

He made a brief visit to the tomb of his mother at Tanah Kusir
cemetery in South Jakarta before heading to his residence.

Monday's questioning will be the second faced by the former
president on the case, which involves the State Logistics Agency
(Bulog).

State prosecutors Manaf Djubaedi and Santoso questioned
Habibie on Dec. 11 and Dec. 12 at the Indonesian Consulate-
General in Hamburg about alleged misuse of the Bulog funds.

Habibie will be the second former president of the republic to
face questioning at the Attorney General's Office, after his
predecessor Soeharto in early 1999.

Habibie's successor Abdurrahman Wahid had to undergo two sets
of questioning by the National Police and Jakarta Police last
year.

Akbar, the minister/state secretary in Habibie's time, claimed
that the money was disbursed to finance the government's special
project to provide food for the poor in five provinces during the
prolonged economic crisis in 1999.

It remains unclear how Akbar obtained the authority to
organize the project and later appoint the unknown Raudlatul
Jannah Foundation to organize the food distribution.

Akbar, who is now the House of Representatives speaker, was
named a suspect in the case, after the investigators found no
proof of such a project, along with Foundation chairman Dadang
Sukandar and one of the project's contractors, Winfried
Simatupang.

Habibie revealed that he had not received any report from
Akbar about the project, which purportedly took place from March
1999 to September 1999, but Akbar insisted that he had given "a
verbal report" to Habibie before he left his post in May of that
year.

Akbar claimed he had to give up the ministerial post to
concentrate on his party prior to the 1999 general election.

Many believe that the money found its way into Golkar's
coffers, and was shared by nearly all political parties
contesting the election.

The prosecutors are expected to cross-check Akbar's words,
which fingered Habibie as the sole policymaker regarding the
charity program, including the amount of state funds earmarked
for the project.

Habibie's lawyer Yan Djuanda Saputra said his client was due
to undergo another questioning session on Tuesday.