Soeharto's wealth abroad not found yet

JAKARTA (JP): Attorney General Lt. Gen. A.M. Ghalib announced on Tuesday that his office, in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has yet to find any wealth belonging to former president Soeharto overseas.

He was quoted by Antara as saying in Jakarta that both offices reached the preliminary conclusion that "there has been no discovery of Soeharto's wealth abroad either in the form of bank accounts, deposits, land or houses."

The result of months of work by both offices, dated Feb. 2, would be submitted to President B.J. Habibie soon, he said at a belated post-Idul Fitri gathering at his office. Among attendants was former attorney general Ismail Saleh.

The attorney general office's spokesman, Soehandoyo, described the failed attempts of the Indonesian Embassy in Britain to find any data or information on the money reportedly kept in Indonesian banks in London under the names of Soeharto and his family members.

For its part in the task of tracking down and if possible retrieving Soeharto's reported overseas wealth, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it gathered reports from at least 16 Indonesian embassies in Rome, Damascus, Vanimo, Riyadh, Pyongyang, The Hague, Paris, Tokyo, Canberra, Wellington, Washington, Houston, Luxembourg, Beograd, London and Brussels.

"In Washington, it was difficult to seek any information about Soeharto's wealth as the issue was considered too complex and sensitive there," Soehandoyo said.

He added the Luxembourg government had promised to help with the investigation only if the case was brought to trial.

Meanwhile, a note of support and confidence was voiced on Tuesday by Ismail Saleh who expressed the belief that Ghalib's office had actually made efforts to uncover the corrupt practices of Soeharto and his family and associates.

"This (search for the reported wealth) is being run on a decree of the People's Consultative Assembly and a presidential instruction," he said. He also expressed hope the case could be settled soon, either by it being resolved or dismissed if there was a lack of evidence.

"I hope (the allegations of ill-gotten wealth) are proved by legal evidence. But if there's no proof... you cannot force it. If there were is no evidence of criminal offense, the investigation must be called off," Ismail said.

Soeharto, the target of a government corruption probe, said last December he was ready to face questioning, but he also pleaded for the public to stop condemning him and his family.

In November last year, disappointed and angry students presented a black chicken to Ghalib following his steadfast refusal to set a deadline for the investigation into Soeharto's wealth.

Soeharto was eventually questioned, over allegations of corruption during his 32 years in power, for the first time in a three-hour session by government prosecutors under heavy security on Dec. 10 last year. (edt)