Sat, 15 Apr 2000

Soeharto's children to be questioned

JAKARTA (JP): The Attorney General's Office has issued summonses to two of former president Soeharto's children for questioning in a bid to speed up investigation of his alleged corruption during 32 years of rule.

The lawyer representing Soeharto's family, Juan Felix Tampubolon, told The Jakarta Post on Friday he received the summonses for Soeharto's eldest daughter Siti Hardijanti Rukmana and second son Bambang Trihatmodjo earlier in the evening.

"Both are summoned to appear on Tuesday as witnesses in a case related to Soeharto's charity foundations," Juan said.

When announcing the reopening of Soeharto's corruption case last December, the Attorney General's Office cited new evidence, pointing to "a misuse of power and authority" in issuing government regulations and presidential decrees in order to amass funds for foundations linked to him, his family and his associates.

Investigation into Soeharto has been hampered by his ailing health. The initial questioning of the 78-year-old ex-president earlier this month was stopped by doctors, who also prevented the resumption of the questioning a week after.

Director of Corruption Affairs at the Attorney General's Office Chairul Imam said that along with the two siblings, executives of the foundations would also be ordered to appear for questioning.

He said the questioning of key witnesses would be conducted while arranging a new schedule for Soeharto's questioning.

Juan said he would ask the Attorney General's Office to delay the questioning of Hardijanti, better known as Tutut, and Bambang until Wednesday because Tuesday has been set aside for a session at the Central Jakarta District Court for a libel filed by Soeharto against Time magazine. The court will hear testimony of senior journalist Goenawan Mohammad.

The U.S. weekly is accused of libel in an article which stated that Soeharto had enriched himself and relatives during his three decades of rule.

Soeharto has been put under city arrest since Wednesday, but Chairul said the former president would be granted a permit to leave Jakarta for special reasons, such as family matters or medical treatment, as long as there was prior notice and as long as he applied to the Attorney General's Office.

Newly inaugurated spokesman Yushar Yahya said that under the city arrest Soeharto does not require any permit from the Attorney General's Office to receive guests or to pay visits as long as he is still inside Jakarta.

Juan said that Soeharto as of Friday night has not been told about his arrest, as his medical team advised.

Chairul said that, judging from the latest medical assessment of the independent medical team at Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital (RSCM), Soeharto will not be able to regularly report by himself.

"It's impossible for him to come, so it's more likely we will take the initiative to see how he is," he said.

Separately, Antonius Sujata, former state prosecutor to Soeharto's corruption cases, said that the initial investigation had found that Soeharto abused his power by providing funds to his various foundations.

"Too bad the then president B.J. Habibie stopped the investigation, otherwise Soeharto would have certainly stood trial," Anton was quoted by Antara as saying.

Outside the Attorney's General Office, dozens of members of the Indonesian Muslim Students (HMI) rallied to protest the slow- paced investigation into the former president.

The students demanded that Marzuki immediately put Soeharto on trial. They pledged to camp out at the Attorney General's Office compound until their demands were met. (01)