Habibie not linked to Kohl scandal: lawyers

Habibie not linked to Kohl scandal: lawyers

Associated Press, Jakarta

Former Indonesian President B.J. Habibie was not involved in a graft scandal linked to former German leader Helmut Kohl, his lawyer said Tuesday.

Germany's Die Zeit magazine reported last week that documents found by a servant in a villa owned by Habibie linked him to illegal campaign contributions of about two million Deutsche marks (US$1 million) allegedly made to Chancellor Kohl's Christian Democrat party between 1993 and 1998.

The weekly quoted German prosecutors as saying they would search the residence.

"(The allegations) are not true. The documents are not there," said Habibie's lawyer, Yan Juanda Saputra. "Habibie has been close to Kohl for years but he is not involved."

The German embassy in Jakarta refused to comment on the case. Kohl maintains the charges against him are an attempt to discredit his achievements during his 16 years as Germany's chancellor.

In a separate graft case, Indonesian prosecutors flew to Germany last week to question Habbibie over graft scandal involving the misuse of $5.3 million from Indonesia's state National Logistics Agency while he was president in 1999.

The money was allegedly used to pay for the Golkar Party's 1999 election campaign. Habibie, who used to head Golkar, has also denied any wrongdoing.

During Habibie's brief tenure as Indonesian president, he maintained close links with Germany, where he lived between 1955 and 1974 and worked as an aeronautical engineer.

In the early 1990s, while he served as minister of research and technology in the government of ex-dictator Soeharto, Habibie was responsible for a multimillion arms deal involving the purchase by the Indonesia of dozens of surplus warships from the defunct East German navy.

The deal was unpopular with Indonesian military commanders who said it was a waste of money because the boats required extensive repairs.

Since being voted out of office in 1999, Habibie has lived in Hamburg where his wife is receiving medical treatment.