World

Suharto Grilled In Graft Probe

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

December 9, 1998 / 8:23 AM EST / CBS

Disgraced former Indonesian president Suharto was grilled by investigators for four hours on Wednesday over allegations he corruptly amassed a multi-billion dollar fortune during his 32 years in power.

Later, students and police clashed near the building where Suharto had been questioned and several other small-scale demonstrations were held around the city demanding political reform and his trial over corruption charges.

At one protest, dozens of people chanted "Hang Suharto! Hang Suharto!"

The 77-year-old retired general, wearing a brown batik shirt and a black Moslem cap, looked relaxed after the session as he brushed through a crowd of reporters at the Jakarta Attorney's Office on his way home just before noon.

Speaking briefly to reporters outside, Suharto said he would continue to cooperate with prosecutors. But he said it would be inappropriate for him to answer questions while his case was still being investigated.

"I have given all the information they wanted," he said in his first statement to reporters since quitting in May amid political turmoil and the worst economic crisis in decades.

"I am always ready to meet the requests of the attorney-general. No one is above the law."

It was the first time Suharto had been formally questioned.

Riot police guarded the scene and several small tanks were parked nearby. The state-run television network broadcast live reports from the office where the questioning took place.

Suharto's close friend and golfing partner, Mohamad "Bob" Hasan, a timber tycoon and former trade and industry minister, was also questioned for almost eight hours on Wednesday.

Dozens of people demonstrated outside as Hasan was being quizzed at the attorney-general's office.

Hasan told reporters he had been asked about several business operations, including banking and factories.

"I was asked to come here to give some information," he said.

Barman, a spokesman for Attorney-General Andi Ghalib, told reporters that Suharto and Hasan could be questioned again.

Barman told reporters Suharto, accompanied by a team of lawyers, was asked a total of 41 questions about seven charities he ran, a national car project involving his youngest son, and his assets, including bank accounts and land.

One of Suharto's lawyers, Mohammad Affegaf, said the former president had clarified issues during the questioning.

"He's not a suspect. He's not a witness -- he's just here to clarify," he said.

The probe has so far uncovered $3 million in Suharto's local bank accounts and ownership of tracts of land.

Suharto told the latest issue of a magazine run by a charity he used to run that he was a good saver and the money was from his presidential salary and rent from two houses.

Some analysts estimate that Suharto and his family amassed a fortune worth billions of dollars during hs autocratic, army-backed rule.

Barman said Suharto's interrogation was shifted from Ghalib's office to the local Jakarta Attorney's Office because of security concerns amid fears of large protests.

About 200 soldiers, backed by armored vehicles, set up a security cordon around the Attorney's Office.

Hundreds of students have taken to the streets of the capital almost daily, demanding Suharto be tried for corruption and human rights abuses and dismissing the official inquiry as a whitewash.

Last month, amid clashes between security forces and protesters that left at least 14 people dead, Indonesia's highest legislative body named Suharto in a decree on ending corruption.

President B.J. Habibie, Suharto's hand-picked successor, subsequently ordered the Suharto probe be stepped up.

But critics say Habibie's government is only putting on a show of investigating the former president in an effort to placate protesters, and is unlikely to seriously pursue those guilty of corruption as several current government figures served under Suharto and could be implicated.

Suharto's lawyers have warned that if the former president was brought to trial, several government officials could be dragged down too.

Suharto, now a virtual recluse in his Jakarta home, has scoffed at accusations that he stashed billions of dollars overseas and has claimed he has "not one cent" squirreled away in foreign bank accounts.