Lawyer says he is still defending Soeharto

JAKARTA (JP): As people anxiously await Attorney General Andi Muhammad Ghalib's questioning of Soeharto this week, talk about who would represent the former president heightened as one of his attorneys contends that he has not be fired.

Johannes Jacob on Saturday vehemently denied reports that he has been dismissed by the 72-year-old former president.

"I'm still an authorized lawyer for pak Harto. All reports saying that I have been fired by him are not true," he told The Jakarta Post be telephone.

"The report on the expiration of my contract with the former president was part of the strategy to fool the press," he said without elaborating.

A member of Soeharto's present defense team, Syamsul Hadi told reporters on Wednesday that Soeharto withdrew his authorization for Johannes to act as his attorney on June 15 this year, less than two weeks after the authorization was given.

Soeharto on Friday said that at least 22 lawyers have offered their services to help defend him in the investigation. They include notable names like O.C. Kaligis and Minang Warman.

He said that he would contact them if and when he needed them. "But I will only need several lawyers, not all of them," he added.

In a related development, Adnan Buyung Nasution on Saturday dismissed reports quoting former Minister/State Secretary Saadilah Mursyid's statement that Nasution was willing to join Soeharto's defense team.

"The reports are untrue and could ruin my image," Nasution said in a written statement.

He admitted that he met Saadilah a few months ago and told the former Minister that he would be ready to help defend Soeharto only "if worst came to worst" -- if the former president was arbitrarily charged with corruption, collusion and nepotism and stripped of his dignity without respect to human rights.

Nasution said it would be impossible for him now to defend Soeharto, because it would be a conflict of interest, given the fact that he was among those who had first raised the need of an independent team. Besides, there was no serious commitment from the government to complete the investigation against the former president.

According to Nasution, lawyer Deny Kailimang called him on Friday and asked him to join the defense team.

"I told Deny that I'm not willing to defend Soeharto anymore," he said.

Though speculation was rife that Deny was a part of Soeharto's defense team, he himself dismissed the reports. "I've never heard about it. I've never been contacted by anybody about it. And I've never applied for it," Deny told The Jakarta Post.

Former justice minister Ismail Saleh, who is said to be a leading candidate to head the defense team, has also refuted such reports.

Another noted lawyer, Todung Mulya Lubis, also denied speculation that he has been recruited to join the defense team.

"I've never been contacted by anybody to join the team. I've never offered myself for the job. And I'll never be willing to help defend Soeharto," he told The Jakarta Post.

"I'm one of the founders of the Indonesian Corruption Watch. And my involvement in the government-initiated but eventually aborted independent commission was to prove the corruption allegations against Soeharto," he said.

"Therefore, it's impossible for me to join the team".

Todung further expressed regret that several lawyers have reportedly applied to Soeharto to join his defense team.

"It's improper for a lawyer to apply for a legal counsel position with his or her would-be client," he said, adding that it was against the Indonesian Lawyers' Code of Ethics. (imn)