Lopa plans to file lawsuit against Soeharto
JAKARTA (JP): Seeking a much needed breakthrough in the stalled prosecution of Soeharto, Attorney General Baharuddin Lopa reiterated here on Tuesday his plans to seek an alternative legal route by filing a civil lawsuit against the former president.
Speaking after the launching of the book "Soeharto's Trial", Lopa said such a move would be beneficial for all concerned as it would provide "legal certainty" for both Soeharto himself and the nation.
The question of bringing the former president to book is one of the biggest tests that Lopa will have to face, after his predecessor Marzuki Darusman's efforts to have Soeharto tried for allegedly abusing power by amassing wealth through various foundations were stymied by the courts.
The Supreme Court has upheld the decisions of two lower courts that Soeharto was unfit to stand trial in the US$ 570 million graft case involving his foundations due to his poor state of health.
It also ordered the Attorney General's Office to pay Soeharto's medical expenses.
Barring a sudden recovery in Soeharto's health, a civil action looks to be the most viable option available to Lopa at this juncture.
Lopa on Tuesday defended his planned move saying that "such a legal process will be mostly for Soeharto's own benefit."
Earlier on Monday during a hearing with the House of Representatives' Commission II for legal affairs, Lopa boasted of an impending breakthrough in the Soeharto case.
"We can file a lawsuit on that basis because Soeharto, as the owner of several foundations, misused funds which actually did not belong to the foundations," he told the legislators late on Monday night.
Lopa expressed some bewilderment at the Supreme Court's decision burdening the state with the cost of paying for the defendant's medical treatment.
He described the decision as proof of the courts' capriciousness with regard to prominent people.
"Moreover, it's strange that the court could have declared Soeharto to be "permanently incapacitated." There's no such term in the law books as no human being can determine whether an illness is permanent or otherwise. Only God can do that," Lopa asserted.
Lopa, a former chairman of the National Commission on Human Rights, also expressed outrage at the prognosis by doctors that it would be difficult for Soeharto to recover sufficiently to stand trial.
Separately, legal expert Todung Mulya Lubis said that a civil lawsuit was one possible way of recovering state funds without requiring the appearance of the defendant in the courtroom.
"(In the Soeharto case) the trial could proceed with only the lawyers of the foundation or his heirs being present," he told The Jakarta Post by telephone on Tuesday afternoon.
Separately, presidential spokesman Yahya Staquf claimed that President Abdurrahman Wahid fully backed Lopa's plan to investigate corruption cases, even if the President or his family were involved.
According to Yahya, Abdurrahman was ready to face any inquiry, including inquiries into two financial scandals that allegedly involved the President.
"Also, if there are any family members or people close to the President who have violated the law, they must be investigated in accordance with the law," Yahya said on Wednesday.(bby/prb)