Judiciary must decide on Soeharto: ICW
JAKARTA (JP): A prominent corruption watchdog questioned President B.J. Habibie's plan to declare the legal status of former president Soeharto, under investigation for alleged corruption, saying the authority belongs to the judiciary rather than to the head of administration.
The Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) conceded Habibie was currently the holder of a mandate of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) to, among other things, investigate Soeharto and his cronies.
However, ICW lawyer Iskandar Sonhadji said that "under the law, a person can be given certain legal status if there's already a court decision".
"Therefore, the plan of Habibie as the head of administration to decide Soeharto's legal status is overstepping into the judiciary's authority," he said as quoted by Antara.
Sonhadji and fellow ICW lawyers Apong Herlina, Ida L. Warouw and Marsaulina Manurung met on Wednesday with Deputy Attorney General for Special Crimes Ramelan. During the meeting, the lawyers criticized the Attorney General's Office for limiting its investigations to a number of foundations that Soeharto chaired and the national car project.
Because the investigations have not been thorough, the ICW lawyers said, Habibie did not have adequate grounds to rule on Soeharto's legal status.
They said that if Habibie wanted to proceed regardless, he could bring corruption charges against Soeharto over the former president's decrees on clove trade which granted a monopoly to his youngest son, Hutomo Mandala Putra. The ICW lawyers suspected the trade had between 1992-1996 enriched Hutomo, or Tommy as he is widely known, by Rp 2 trillion (about US$270).
Separately, another ICW lawyer, Bambang Widjojanto, blasted Habibie's government for its inconsistent stance on Soeharto's case.
Speaking in the South Sulawesi capital of Ujungpandang, Bambang said Habibie had confused political interests with legal matters when dealing with Soeharto.
"Soeharto's alleged corruption is strictly a legal matter and not politics," Bambang said. "President Habibie and Minister of Justice Muladi should clarify their stance, whether they wish to solve the matter in a political manner or through legal procedures."
Commenting on Habibie's wish to announce on Thursday his final decision regarding the sluggish investigation into the Soeharto case, Bambang said that if Habibie chose to take a political approach, "it would only prove that Habibie's government is discriminative and inconsistent".
Such inconsistency would set a bad precedent in law enforcement against corruption in the country, said Bambang, who is also chairman of the Ethics Board of the Indonesian Corruption Watch.
The government has been under mounting pressure to speed up the probe by naming Soeharto a suspect for corruption charges during his 32 years of iron-fisted rule. Observers, however, have speculated that Habibie, who is Soeharto's former protege, would be reluctant to take a firm stance against the ailing former ruler.
On Aug. 18, Muladi hinted that the investigation into Soeharto may be dropped due to a lack of evidence. The remarks came several days after Soeharto was rushed to Pertamina Hospital with intestinal bleeding, less than a month after hospitalization for a mild stroke. (27/edt/har/swe)