Rahardi dismisses lawyers
Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Prime defendant in the Rp 62.9 billion State Logistics Agency (Bulog) scandal Rahardi Ramelan has dismissed his defense team following the court's decision to extend his detention.
Rahardi, who was the Bulog chief when the alleged crime took place in 1999, has also withdrawn his libel lawsuit against a weekly magazine.
One of the lawyers, Yan Djuanda Saputra, told reporters on Thursday that Rahardi had sent a letter dated April 9 to the nine-member team, informing them of his decision to withdraw the letters of appointment from his attorneys.
"We respect his decision. We have done our best ... but the reason he has not yet got his freedom back is because we cannot interfere with the authority of the court," Yan Djuanda told reporters.
The lawyers and family of Rahardi have five times requested that his detention be lifted but to no avail.
Instead, the court extended Rahardi's detention by another 60 days on April 5. Rahardi has been Cipinang prison, East Jakarta, since Feb. 28.
Unlike Rahardi, his alleged accomplice in the Bulog scandal, House of Representatives speaker and Golkar Party chairman Akbar Tandjung, was relieved when the court released him after only 30 days in custody in a comfortable Attorney General's Office cell.
Meanwhile, South Jakarta District Court spokesman Ida Bagus Putu Madeg said that Rahardi had withdrawn his libel lawsuit against Forum Keadilan magazine.
"We accepted the withdrawal of the suit as we have yet to summon the accused," Madeg told reporters.
Rahardi's lawsuit against the weekly was registered by Andar Situmorang on March 28.
The lawyer is currently serving an eight-month jail term in Cipinang Penitentiary for forging his bachelor's degree.
The lawsuit related to an article in the March 24 edition about Rahardi's role in the scandal. He demanded that the court revoke the magazine's publishing license and order the weekly to pay him Rp 1 billion in damages.
Also on Thursday, Attorney General's Office spokesman Barman Zahir said investigators needed more time to complete their investigations into another suspect in the scandal, Bulog's former deputy finance chief Ahmad Ruskandar.
"He is now suspected not only of swindling Rp 4.6 billion in taxpayers' money, but also of illegally disbursing Rp 62.9 billion. The investigators are now questioning more witnesses," Barman said.