Soeharto case: Legal authorities hide behind doctors' testimony
Soeharto case: Legal authorities hide behind doctors' testimony
Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Attorney General's Office and the Supreme Court appear
hesitant to continue the trial of ailing former president
Soeharto, preferring to hide behind his doctors' testimony.
Soeharto has been accused of stealing US$571 million from the
state by channeling money from seven charitable foundations that
he chaired into businesses belonging to his family and
associates.
Since Soeharto stepped down from the presidency in May 1998,
there have been constant public demands for him to be put on
trial for suspected corruption during his time in power.
To date, a trial for Soeharto has never been able to get off
the ground due to his ill health. The former general was admitted
to the hospital here on Monday due to worsening health.
The Office said on Tuesday that it could not halt the trial of
Soeharto because the dossier had been handed over to the South
Jakarta District Court, meaning it was now up to the Court to
decide.
Director of investigations of the Office Muchtar Arifin also
lamented the Supreme Court's opinion as "it has failed to settle
problems related to Soeharto's prosecution."
He said the Office had sent a letter to the Supreme Court in
October asking the Chief Justice (Bagir Manan) to issue a decree
to order the South Jakarta District Court to reopen a hearing
into Soeharto's case.
The hearing should have only one aim, he said, to validate a
conclusion by a team of doctors that Soeharto was too ill to
stand trial.
"But rather than giving such a direction (to the South Jakarta
District Court), the Supreme Court has said that we, the
prosecutors, are the ones to decide whether we should continue
with corruption proceedings against Soeharto," Muchtar told
reporters.
The Supreme Court's opinion, which left the decision with the
Office, was received last Friday, three days before Soeharto was
hospitalized.
Asked that the whole episode appeared to indicate that the
Office and the Supreme Court were both washing their hands of the
process, Muchtar said, "It must be understood that we have handed
the dossier to the South Jakarta District Court; therefore it is
up to the Court to decide whether or not it will continue the
trial."
During the last weeks of B.J. Habibie's presidency in October
1999, the Office halted the investigation into Soeharto's case,
saying that no evidence of wrongdoing had been found.
After being appointed Attorney General, Marzuki Darusman
announced in December 1999 that the investigation into Soeharto's
alleged graft was being reopened.
The South Jakarta District Court decided on Sept. 28 last
year, however, to drop the case on the grounds that the defendant
was physically and mentally unfit to stand trial.
In February, the Supreme Court supported that decision by
lifting Soeharto's city arrest status and ordering the Attorney
General's Office to pay for the 80-year-old former dictator's
medical treatment.
The Office's decision to send a letter to the Supreme Court in
October was spurred by Soeharto's worsening condition,
prosecutors said at the time.
"I agree that prosecutors have responsibilities to take
suspects to court, but I hope the Supreme Court will understand
that we will not be able to bring Soeharto to court as he is in a
critical condition," Muchtar said, adding that the Office could
do nothing except wait for the Court's decision.
Separately, Chief Justice Bagir Manan argued that a new decree
would violate the principle of the Court's independence.
He said that its opinion implied that the Court should halt
the trial.