Marzuki threatens to force Soeharto over summons
Marzuki threatens to force Soeharto over summons
JAKARTA (JP): Attorney General Marzuki Darusman threatened on
Wednesday to force former president Soeharto to answer a long-
standing summons in connection with an official corruption
investigation if he fails to appear again on Thursday.
Marzuki said his office had the legal authority to subpoena
Soeharto if he ignored three consecutive summonses from the
office.
Soeharto has been ordered to appear at Marzuki's office on
Thursday, after Marzuki concluded last week that the former ruler
was healthy enough on the basis of a report by independent
doctors assigned by the government.
However, on the eve of the highly publicized investigation,
Soeharto's lawyers made public the report of an independent
medical team, which they claimed corroborated their argument that
their client was not fit to answer the summons.
Marzuki waived dismissively when asked to comment on the
latest maneuver by the lawyers, saying he did not want to be
drawn into another polemic about Soeharto's health.
"We will take the necessary measures at the appropriate time,"
Marzuki said before attending the weekly Cabinet meeting at Bina
Graha presidential office.
Soeharto's lawyers wrote to Marzuki on Wednesday reiterating
their position that Soeharto could not make it on Thursday.
They underlined the report by the five doctors at the state
Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital that Soeharto's speech
impediment rendered him inadequate to answer questions.
"Our client is not in any position to answer questions. We do
not see any benefit from a legal point of view for him to be
questioned and to answer prosecutors' questions," according to
the letter, also distributed to the media.
The independent medical report almost tallied with the one
produced by Soeharto's private doctors, lawyer Juan Felix
Tampubolon said.
"Let's just make these medical reports public in the name of
transparency," Tampubolon told journalists.
The independent medical team report, according to the copy
distributed by Tampubolon, suggested that the memory of the 78-
year old Soeharto had deteriorated significantly.
"In order to express his thoughts in long or complex
sentences, he needs an assistant to choose the precise and proper
words. His speech impediment cannot guarantee that the spoken
words will be identical to what he intends to say," according to
the report.
The doctors also concluded that Soeharto was vulnerable to
high blood pressure when faced with certain pressures.
"Psychologically, he can understand and express simple ideas.
For complex ideas, however, he has to be assisted and his speech
capacity is indefinite," the doctors said.
The report by Soeharto's private doctors said the former
president suffered from mixed non-fluent aphasia. He has problems
with verbal expression, verbal repetition, verbal understanding
and verbal communication.
Soeharto suffered a stroke last year that is believed to have
affected his speech.
Although he has made several public appearances, including
meeting with President Abdurrahman on three occasions this past
month, he has refrained from talking to the public.
His last joint appearance with President Abdurrahman was on
Monday when the latter attended the wedding ceremony of one of
Soeharto's granddaughters. (01/dja/prb)