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.