Rahardi ill with sore throat

Rahardi ill with sore throat

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The South Jakarta District Court postponed on Tuesday the
hearing of former chief of the State Logistics Agency (Bulog)
Rahardi Ramelan after the defendant claimed he was suffering from
a sore throat.

After beginning the hearing at 9:30 a.m., presiding judge Lalu
Mariyun read a letter from a doctor at the Cipinang Penitentiary,
where Rahardi is being detained, explaining that the defendant
was not healthy and needed two days of bed rest.

Rahardi, however, appeared in fine health and responded loudly
and clearly to Lalu's questions.

Chief prosecutor Kemas Yahya Rahman, apparently suspicious of
Rahardi's claim of illness, asked the court to allow a doctor
from the Attorney General's Office, to examine Rahardi.

Lawyer OC Kaligis also demanded the court to allow Rahardi's
wife, Tumbu Tri Iswari Astiani, to examine the defendant.

Tumbu is a retired anesthesiologist.

Lalu granted the request before adjourning the session until
next week.

Rahardi is on trial in a Rp 62.9 billion corruption case in
the Bulog scandal in which House of Representatives Speaker Akbar
Tandjung is a defendant in a separate trial.

Akbar, who is not currently in custody, was one of five
witnesses who were scheduled to testify in Rahardi's case on
Tuesday. He arrived at the court at about 8.15 a.m., but he left
about 20 minutes later after speaking privately with both the
judges and the prosecutors. They allowed him to leave after he
promised to return to the court at 11 a.m.

Another witness, former president B.J. Habibie, was not
present during the hearing. Kaligis, who is also Habibie's
lawyer, said that he is currently in Germany.

After the 30-minute hearing was over, Judge Lalu summoned
journalists to his office. Accompanied by court spokesman Ida
Bagus Putu, he said that Rahardi had filed a libel suit against
Forum Keadilan magazine.

The lawsuit was in regard to an article in the March 24
edition about Rahardi's role in the Bulog scandal. Rahardi
demanded the court to annul the magazine's license and to order
the weekly to pay him Rp 1 billion in compensation.

The lawsuit was registered by Andar Situmorang, who is
currently doing time at Cipinang Penitentiary for forgery. The
East Jakarta District Court sentenced him to eight months in jail
after he was found guilty of forging his bachelor's degree
certificate from the law school of a private university here.

Rahardi's daughter, Dian Kunti Sintorini told reporters that
her father never appointed Situmorang to represent him. She said
that he planned to hire lawyer Luhut MP Pangaribuan to sue Forum
Keadilan.