House urge quick Soeharto inquiry

JAKARTA (JP): The government must move quickly to investigate Soeharto's wealth, allegedly stashed in bank accounts abroad, or face the possibility that it will lose the remainder of its battered credibility, legislators warned on Monday.

"Get on with the investigation into Soeharto's wealth, or people will become restless," said Aminuddin Yamin of the Armed Forces (ABRI) faction in a House of Representatives Commission I (on security, defense, foreign affairs and information) hearing with Attorney General Lt. Gen. Andi Muhammad Ghalib.

Ghalib heads a government team charged with the task of investigating Soeharto's wealth, which many allege was illegally amassed during his 32 years in power.

Even now, many people doubt the government's seriousness to investigate Soeharto, Yamin said, adding that some have charged that the government was dragging its feet on the matter.

Yamin cited opposition figure Amien Rais, who said last week he would give the government two weeks to prove its zeal in the Soeharto probe. Amien, who is the chairman of the National Mandate Party (PAN), threatened to stage massive street protests if the government failed to meet the deadline.

During the hearing, Ginting Sutradara of the dominant Golkar faction also pressed the government to quickly address the country's problem of rampant corruption.

"Besides investigating Soeharto's wealth, the government must also press all ministers and officials to publicly declare their wealth," Ginting said.

Legislator Aisyah Aminy of the United Development Party (PPP) faction, who presided over the hearing, suggested the government talk with all parties able to provide preliminary data on the former autocrat's wealth.

Ghalib, representing the government, vowed that the probe would commence "as soon as possible", but called on the public to uphold the principle of presumption of innocence.

He stressed that the "clarification" of Soeharto's wealth was "a legal matter, not a political one".

"Until we have evidence that he (Soeharto) has wealth abroad (which he has said he does not have), we can't say Soeharto is 'not rightful'," he said.

"I will ask Soeharto to give me an authorization letter (to check if he has wealth stashed abroad). Later I will use this letter to travel around the world to check whether he has accounts. If there is, we'll take it back to buy basic commodities for the people," he promised.

He even joked that journalists could travel with him, but "at your own expense", he quipped.

After the hearing, Ghalib was pressed by journalists on when he would meet Soeharto to follow up with the planned investigation.

"I will meet with Coordinating Minister for Development Supervision/State Administrative Reform (Hartarto) to decide it (when to meet Soeharto)," he briefly said.

At Merdeka Palace, Minister/State Secretary Akbar Tandjung reiterated the government's seriousness in the matter.

"One thing for sure is that President B.J. Habibie has assigned Minister Hartarto and Attorney General A.M. Ghalib to soon meet Soeharto to follow up on what he (Soeharto) had said on TPI," he told journalists.

On Sept. 6, in a prerecorded account televised by his eldest daughter Siti Hardijanti Rukmana's TPI television station, Soeharto denied allegations that he had a personal fortune worth trillions of rupiah stashed both overseas and at home.

He said that many people had fueled allegations that he had US$100 billion overseas and Rp 200 trillion ($18 billion) at home.

"The fact is, I don't have even one cent of savings abroad, don't have accounts at foreign banks, don't have deposits abroad and don't even have any shares in foreign firms, much less hundreds of billions of dollars, which leads to the question of where the figures came from."

American finance magazine Forbes, in its July edition, estimated that Soeharto had a fortune worth $4 billion deposited overseas.

"But, if somebody has evidence that I have bank accounts in Switzerland, Hungary or other countries, he or she can contact the Indonesian embassy to have it transferred to the Indonesian government to be used to help defuse the economic crisis," Soeharto said, adding that he would be ready 24 hours a day to put his signature on the transfer. (prb/aan)