House wants legal action taken against President

House wants legal action taken against President

JAKARTA (JP): The House of Representatives officially handed
over the special committee's report on the two financial scandals
allegedly involving President Abdurrahman Wahid to the Attorney
General and the National Police chief for legal processing.

The almost 50-centimeters-thick stack of statements from all
of the witnesses heard by the special committee was formally
submitted to Attorney General Marzuki Darusman and Police chief
Gen. Suroyo Bimantoro in the House on Monday.

Along with the evidential documents, House Speaker Akbar
Tandjung also handed over the memorandum of censure to senior
state officials.

"We submitted the papers to the Attorney General and police
chief as a follow-up action to the House plenary session...
concerning violations of the law which should be processed
further," Akbar said.

"It is our duty to provide these papers as we all know that
the House has decided to take both political and legal action
over the case," he added.

On Thursday, the House censured Abdurrahman for his alleged
involvement in two financial scandals and agreed to issue a
memorandum of censure that could serve as a precursor to the
impeachment of the president.

The House also recommended that a legal process should be
undertaken to follow up on suspicions of violations of the law in
respect of the Rp 35-billion State Logistics Agency (Bulog)
scandal and the Brunei scandal.

"The formal submission of the documents is part of the process
of initiating legal proceedings following the plenary session,
and we will now let the law enforcement agencies continue the
process," Akbar said.

Attorney General Marzuki Darusman said that he would study the
papers first before taking further steps to process the case.

"We have accepted the papers from the House and will follow up
the case in accordance with the regulations," Marzuki said.

He underlined that the papers would be regarded as a complaint
from the public and that his office would conduct the
investigation, starting with the questioning of the members of
the special committee as witnesses.

"So, I hope all the legislators from the special committee
will cooperate and be willing to give us information whenever we
need it," he stressed.

Marzuki further said that he would synchronize the results of
his investigation with the ongoing court trial of former Bulog
deputy chief Sapuan as the chief defendant in the Buloggate case.

"We will continue to use the findings of the court as the
principal guide for us in conducting the investigation because
the legal process is definitive while the political process in
the House is tentative," he said.

"If we find new evidence in the committee's documents, then we
will accept it, but if not then we will only consider this as
additional information concerning the ongoing trial of the same
case," he added.

When asked whether Abdurrahman should be suspended or arrested
during the investigation process, Marzuki said there was no need
for that as it would not present any difficulties for him to
legally process an active state official.

"There is no law stipulating the arrest of a president during
the investigation process," Marzuki said, adding that even
Syahril Sabirin, the central bank governor, was not suspended
during his investigation.

He said he would not have any psychological problems in
investigating the case even though it concerned his superior,
saying the case was related to Abdurrahman personally rather than
to the presidency as an institution.

Gen. Suroyo Bimantoro said that he would handle the case in
accordance with the regulations and would not be psychologically
impeded in dealing with a case involving the President.

"No, we have to differentiate between the police as an
institution subordinate to the president, and as a state
institution," Bimantoro said.

"It would present problems for us if we were unable to handle
the case properly," he remarked.

Meanwhile, Aris Junaidi, a businessman and a witness in the
Bulog scandal, asserted that the President knew nothing about the
disbursement of the Rp 35 billion from the National Logistics
Agency foundation (Yanatera Bulog) and that former National
Police chief Gen. Roesdihardjo's testimony on the President's
involvement was untrue.

"The President knew nothing after he failed to get a bigger
sum out of Bulog. The disbursement of the Rp 35 billion was an
arrangement between the former Bulog deputy chief Sapuan and
Suwondo, the President's former masseur," he said at a press
conference here on Monday.

Aris, who admitted to having known the President since 1985
and Suwondo since 1990, said he had been given a clarification
about the funds' disbursement from Suwondo when the latter was
undergoing medical treatment at the National Police General
Hospital in East Jakarta last month.

"During the meeting, he (Suwondo) told me that the President
knew nothing about the funds and that he had borrowed the funds
and would return them to Yanatera in Jan. 2001," he said, adding
that Suwondo declined to reveal his motive in obtaining the loan.

Aris himself admitted to borrowing Rp 5 billion, a part of the
Rp 35 billion Suwondo had obtained from Sapuan, and investing it
in a logging company belonging to Siti Farikah, his business
partner in Semarang, Central Java.

"Roesdihardjo's testimony that the President gave a Rp 5
billion cheque to Siti Farikah is not true," he said. (dja/rms)