Police question 'Time' magazine's stringer Loebis

Police question 'Time' magazine's stringer Loebis

JAKARTA (JP): Amid widespread speculation over the state of
former president Soeharto's health, the National Police
questioned a Time magazine stringer on Friday as a witness in
connection with investigations into claims made by the magazine
about the former first family's wealth.

National Police detective chief Maj. Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said
the summons was not related to the deteriorating health of
Soeharto, who was admitted to Pertamina hospital in South Jakarta
on Tuesday.

"It is just a coincidence that the summons arrived when he is
sick. The summons is an outcome of our long investigation
process," Da'i said.

The stringer, Zamira Ellyana Loebis, 39, was grilled for about
three hours at National Police Headquarters. She was asked some
20 questions, mostly relating to the magazine's report.

"She was summoned as a witness for the offense, allegedly
committed by Time's chief editors in New York," said lawyer
Todung Mulya Lubis who is representing the U.S.-based magazine.

Da'i said police had also questioned language and legal
experts to confirm whether any offenses were found in the
magazine reports. He declined to divulge the outcome of the
meetings, saying the matter was confidential.

"It is very time consuming. Currently, we need to obtain
information from as many people as possible, including Time's
reporters and the magazine's readers here," Da'i said.

The Time Asia edition ran a 24 May cover story titled Suharto
Inc., which suggested the former president and his family had
built up a fortune of some US$15 billion abroad. The magazine
claimed that amount included a $9 billion account at an Austrian
bank, which was transferred from a Swiss bank shortly after
Soeharto resigned from office last May.

Zamira was one of six staffers, who contributed reports for
the alleged libelous cover story.

Another reporter -- Jason Tedjasukmana -- is scheduled to be
questioned on Tuesday.

Todung was skeptical an Indonesian court could proceed with
the case. He said he believed from the very beginning that the
complaint and lawsuit should not be filed by Indonesian law
enforcers and its court, but be addressed where the suspects'
resided.

He pointed out that the magazine's editor-in-chief, Norman
Pearlstine, had the right to ignore Indonesian law, as he was not
a citizen of the country. "He lives and is protected under U.S.
laws where he resides," Todung said.

Da'i, however, said police would continue investigating the
complaint and, if necessary, request Todung -- who recently met
with the magazine's editors in New York -- to help police "bring"
the suspects to the country for questioning.

"We keep on studying the case to see if there is a way we can
pursue suspects of other nationalities who live abroad," he said.

Soeharto lodged a complaint at National Police Headquarters
against the magazine in early June, and later filed another civil
lawsuit for $12 billion at the Jakarta's Administrative Court.

The lawsuits, however, have sparked a war of words between
lawyers acting for Soeharto and Time magazine's legal team over
whether the country's law enforcers and courts can prosecute the
magazine's editors.

While the police probe into Soeharto's complaint continued,
the Attorney General's office said on Thursday it had halted its
probe into allegations that Soeharto corruptly amassed his
fortune until he was "100 percent recovered". Officials said the
investigation would be aborted if the ailing former president
died. (emf)