Habibie receives ICW delegation

Habibie receives ICW delegation

JAKARTA (JP): President B.J. Habibie directly received on
Thursday all necessary documents from Indonesian Corruption Watch
(ICW) executive coordinator Teten Masduki to back up the latter's
allegations that Attorney General Lt. Gen. Andi M. Ghalib abused
his power to enrich himself.

Speaking to journalists after his meeting with the President
at Merdeka Palace, Teten said he urged the President to discharge
the attorney general from Cabinet for the power abuses he had
committed.

Teten said he also informed the President on Ghalib's threats,
following disclosure of the attorney general's bank accounts and
deposits.

"He asked me to remain patient against the threat and to sleep
well because tomorrow he would meet with several related
ministers," Teten pointed out.

The attorney general boasted on Wednesday of chasing the
lawyer, whom he called an animal, all the way to the grave. He
also vowed to commit siri for dignity's sake of being a Bugis
man.

According to Bugis tradition, a man will take revenge for a
humiliation of his self-respect. The form of revenge is often
realized in murder.

Habibie, also a Bugis, told him that he would consult with
several ministers on Friday, including Coordinating Minister for
Development Supervision and State Apparatus Reforms Hartarto and
Minister of Justice Muladi, before making any decision to follow
up the report on Ghalib.

"Then a measure will be taken in accordance with the law,"
Teten quoted the President as promising.

During the meeting, Habibie was accompanied by Muladi, while
Teten was accompanied by 13 colleagues, including Bambang
Widjojanto, Chusnul Mariah and Agus Purnomo.

"Before the discussion, we asked the President whether he
would receive Teten as an animal or a human being," Agus joked.

Muladi said the President would summon Ghalib on Thursday
evening.

The meeting was delayed one hour from the original schedule of
3 p.m. because Habibie met first with Supreme Advisory Council
(DPA) Chairman A.A. Baramuli.

The President thanked ICW for the documents and said it was
the first detailed document he received on the Ghalib case.

The document comprises copies of 14 banks accounts and four
time deposits, which totals Rp 13 billion from August to May. On
June 1 the amount decreased to about Rp 9 billion. Four of the
accounts and one of the deposits are owned by his wife Murniati.

"There is a transfer of Rp 2.5 billion in one day alone, and
then Rp 900 million," Teten said, and added many transfers
occurred during the days where the Attorney General's Office
questioned several problematic bankers.

According to Teten, Habibie did not directly respond to ICW's
demand for Ghalib's sacking, but promised to seriously look into
the report. He assured his guests that he would take all
necessary measures to enforce the law.

Habibie agreed with Ghalib's decision to bring the case to
court, said Teten, who then told the President the attorney
general should be removed from Cabinet to enable him to have an
equal position against Ghalib in court.

"The President agreed that the legal process be continued in
court and I am ready for it," said the lawyer.

Ghalib is the most controversial in Habibie's 36-strong
cabinet. On June 1, the University of Indonesia Students'
Executive Body declared Ghalib the winner of the "Soeharto Award"
after topping a list of anti-reform figures in the country.

When his telephone conversation with Habibie on former
president Soeharto's investigation was leaked, he stubbornly said
that he doubted the authenticity of the conversation although
Habibie had confirmed it.

Teten himself pledged that ICW would continue its
anticorruption campaigns. It would soon reveal irregularities at
state-owned social security firm PT Jamsostek.

His office has also received about 2,000 reports from the
public, although he acknowledged many of them were not supported
with strong evidence.

"But some of them are backed with very accurate evidence," he
hinted.

Earlier, Teten and Bambang lodged a criminal lawsuit for
humiliation against Ghalib at the National Police Headquarters.

"What Ghalib has said is not supposed to come out of a high-
ranking official like him," Teten told reporters.

Teten also said that Ghalib alleged he was part of a
conspiracy to destroy the attorney general's reputation in
relation with his effort to probe corruption, collusion and
nepotism cases, recently handled by the Attorney General's
Office.

As a public official, he should be transparent and should not
be secretive so the public can check, Teten said, adding: "There
should be transparency and accountability."

In a related development, Ghalib arrived at the Jakarta Police
Headquarters in South Jakarta to tell his version, following a
criminal lawsuit report made on Monday by his lawyers.

Arriving in a green metallic land cruiser van, Ghalib was
guarded securely by plainclothes military bodyguards and only
gave a thumbs-up sign to reporters.

Ghalib went directly to city police chief Maj. Gen. Noegroho
Djajoesman's room and spent at least two hours there.

"I report to police about the defamation, slander and any kind
of deeds against me both as personal and a state official done by
Saudara Teten and Bambang Widjojanto," he told reporters after
the meeting.

The country is ruled under law and everybody is treated
equally before the law, he said, adding that he had to come down
to the police to get his rights protected.

Ghalib, however, refused to answer any questions at all and
the bodyguards protected him from journalists and photographers.
(prb/emf)