House arrest 'viable option' for Soeharto

House arrest 'viable option' for Soeharto

JAKARTA (JP): Attorney General Marzuki Darusman acknowledged
on Thursday that house arrest was a viable option which could be
imposed on former president Soeharto.

When asked by journalists, Marzuki said here on Thursday a
decision to impose house arrest could be taken as soon as a
medical team from the Attorney General's Office had been able to
determine the former president's state of health.

"The plan now is to set up the medical team ... to be able to
verify the former president's health and then subsequently we
will have to make a decision on the next legal step that will be
required," Marzuki told reporters after speaking at a seminar on
anticorruption and business ethics.

When pressed whether the next legal step would be imposing
house arrest on Soeharto, Marzuki said, "Soeharto is a suspect
and theoretically the law provides that a suspect may be detained
for legal reasons."

"I am simply saying this as a matter of formality or legality,
rather than any immediate decision to do that".

Marzuki said on Wednesday a medical team would soon be sent to
verify Soeharto's health after the former president failed to
answer a summons for questioning at the Attorney General's
Office.

Soeharto's lawyers and doctors officially submitted a letter
claiming their client was physically and mentally too ill to face
the questioning.

The summons was reportedly issued as a result of new evidence
uncovered into allegations that Soeharto misused power to amass
wealth in the 32 years he was in power.

Marzuki said on Thursday the evidence was actually not
entirely new, as it "had been assembled and suppressed" at the
Attorney General's Office for quite some time.

"This new information has been (at the Attorney General's
office) for a long time, it has only been able to surface because
of nonintervention by the (present) government in allowing the
information to come up to the decision making process," Marzuki
said.

When asked how long the Attorney General's Office would need
to complete the investigation, Marzuki said, "We can't schedule
that because we are starting from newly found evidence which has
been there all along."

Separately, Soeharto's step brother Probosutedjo was quoted by
Antara as saying on Thursday that he welcomed Marzuki's plan to
send a medical team, but claimed that the former president was
very ill.

Probosutedjo said he payed regular visits to Soeharto's
residence, and claimed that the last time he met the former
president he was incapable of talking.

Earlier in the day, a spokesman for the Attorney General's
Office said the medical team had yet to be set up, but added that
it could consist of doctors from Cipto Mangunkusumo General
Hospital.

Soeharto, who has repeatedly denied allegations that he
amassed a fortune during his reign, was twice hospitalized last
year for a stroke and intestinal bleeding. (01/byg)