Former Indonesian President Suharto to face graft charge

JAKARTA, Indonesia (Reuters) -- The Indonesian Attorney General's Office said on Wednesday it would charge former President Suharto with graft following a probe into accusations he illegally amassed a fortune.

The announcement was the first time Indonesia had publicly said the ailing 79-year-old Suharto, who stepped down amid economic and social chaos in 1998, would be charged with corruption.

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It also heightened the public humiliation of the former autocrat, who fostered three decades of economic growth in the world's fourth most populous country, but who has been accused by critics of human rights abuses and widespread graft.

"A letter of charges is being prepared ... The letter states that he is charged with the criminal act of corruption," the attorney general's spokesman, Yushar Yahya, told Reuters, adding Suharto had not yet been formally charged.

Yahya said the letter of charges would be submitted, along with other documents, to a court early next month. A trial would likely be convened one or two weeks after that.

"At this stage, we cannot give a definite time when the letter will be finished, but definitely it will be before August 10," Yahya said. That was the date Indonesia had previously said it would be ready to begin a trial.

Yahya, referring to confusion over when Suharto would be formally charged, said under Indonesian law this process occurred when prosecutors read out an indictment on the first trial day.

Suharto and his family deny illegally amassing a fortune -- put by President Abdurrahman Wahid at $45 billion, or about the same as the massive international bailout led by the International Monetary Fund.

The former army general's lawyers have long demanded the graft probe be dropped, saying their client was too ill. Suharto, who has been under house arrest, suffered a stroke last year and has had trouble answering questions from investigators.

One of his lawyers, Juan Felix Tampubolon, said on Wednesday Suharto was being pursued for political purposes.

"The (attorney general's) office has raped Suharto's rights. They prefer to put political needs above the supremacy of the law," Tampubolon told Reuters.

The attorney general's office has focused its investigation around accusations Suharto accumulated huge wealth from charitable foundations he operated while in power.

It has come under widespread pressure and sometimes violent protests from students to try Suharto, an act many Indonesians regard as necessary to help the country break from the shadow of his authoritarian rule.

However, the mercurial Wahid, who has ordered informal talks with Suharto's family to try arrange the return of any ill-gotten wealth, has said he would pardon the ex-general if he were convicted. He has never clearly explained why.

Indonesian authorities last week began seizing assets controlled by some of the Suharto foundations.

Suharto's six children, reviled by many Indonesians for the huge business conglomerates they built under their father's rule, keep a low profile, although they still have valuable and extensive business interests across a range of sectors.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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