Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – Only a day after attending a lavish reception in Jakarta for his grand-daughter's wedding, former president Soeharto has claimed he is not healthy enough to answer questions about corruption during his 32-year rule.

Challenging the recommendations of an independent medical investigation commissioned by lawyers for the Attorney-General, Mr Marzuki Darusman, Mr Soeharto's lawyers said yesterday he had difficulty talking, and needed "assistance for complex matters".

Mr Darusman had earlier authorised a summons for Mr Soeharto to appear for questioning today over alleged corruption at charities he used to control. But one of Mr Soeharto's lawyers, Mr Juan Felix Tampubolon, said: "We want to inform the Attorney-General that Soeharto does not have the ability medically to come."

Another of Mr Soeharto's lawyers, Mr O.C. Kaligis, said his client was incapable of submitting to questioning. "He can only understand and utter simple questioning," Mr Kaligis said.

Mr Darusman said he would consider the case of Mr Soeharto, 79, who was admitted to hospital last year after suffering a stroke. However, he said Mr Soeharto first had to agree to meet him so an assessment of his condition could be made. A deadline for the meeting had yet to be set, Mr Darusman said.

Indonesian newspapers yesterday published photographs of a healthy-looking Mr Soeharto talking at his grand-daughter's reception with President Abdurrahman Wahid, who authorised the reopening of Soeharto corruption allegations after he took office in October.

Mr Soeharto has rarely appeared in public since he was forced from office amid bloodshed in 1998. Mr Wahid has promised to pardon Mr Soeharto if he is convicted. But he has made it clear there will be no pardons for Mr Soeharto's family and cronies, who amassed one of the world's biggest fortunes during his strict rule of the country.

A team of Mr Soeharto's lawyers went to Mr Darusman's office only hours after one of Mr Soeharto's closest former associates, the timber tycoon Mr Mohamad "Bob" Hasan, had been detained over allegations that he defrauded the state of millions of dollars in a forest mapping scam.

At the time of the alleged offence in 1997, the former trade and industry minister controlled a state-sanctioned plywood monopoly that was awarded a $US87 million contract to conduct aerial mapping of the country's vast forests.

But the forestry and plantation ministry has since reported irregularities in the mapping results, claiming the techniques used were obsolete, uneconomical and did not live up to the value of the contract. Mr Hasan, a long-time golfing friend of Mr Soeharto, played a key role in a network of hundreds of companies controlled by the Soeharto family.

Environmental groups claim companies that Mr Hasan controlled helped destroy large areas of Indonesia's rainforests through illegal logging. Attorney-General's officials said Mr Hasan could be held for questioning for 20 days. He had already been barred from leaving the country. Mr Hasan declined to comment to reporters, describing himself as a detainee.