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)