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)