State-appointed doctors to examine Soeharto

JAKARTA (JP): A team of doctors appointed by the Attorney General's office will visit former President Soeharto Monday morning to verify a medical report that the he is incapable of fulfilling a summons for questioning over his alleged corruption.

"I have already signed the instruction letter for the medical team to carry out a direct examination on Pak Harto on Monday," Attorney General Marzuki Darusman told The Jakarta Post by telephone on Saturday.

When asked whether the examination would be carried out at Soeharto's residence, Marzuki said: "It is a technical matter because (Soeharto) could also be requested to appear at a hospital."

Soeharto has been named a suspect by the Attorney General's office in a probe into alleged corruption during his 32-year rule.

Marzuki has said earlier that the decision whether to impose house arrest on Soeharto would be taken as soon as the medical team has been able to determine the former president's state of health.

One of Soeharto's defense lawyers, Juan Felix Tampubolon, submitted on Thursday a detailed medical report to the Attorney General's office on his clients health.

Tampubolon has repeatedly claimed pleaded that his client is medically unfit to undergo questioning.

The Indonesian Medical Association (IDI) said, however, that a medical report would only be valid for a limited time.

"A person's state of health can change over time so that a medical report would only be valid for a certain period," IDI said in a statement signed by its chairman Merdias Almatsier and secretary-general Hasbullah Thabrany.

Two weeks ago the 78-year-old former strongman failed to answer a summons at the Attorney General's office on the grounds that he is ill.

U.S. business magazine Forbes last year estimated Soeharto's family fortune at some US$ 4 billion. Time magazine, which Soeharto has sued, has put the figure at about US$ 15 billion.(byg/dja)