Jakarta – The replaced head of the official team investigating former president Soeharto's wealth, yesterday expressed doubt the Attorney General's Office will ever manage to complete the corruption probe.
"It's very difficult for the current government to settle the case," former junior justice for special crimes, Antonius Sujata, told private television network SCTV in a live interview. He declined to elaborate further.
The official investigation into Soeharto's wealth was commenced by the Attorney General's Office last year, but no results have been forthcoming.
Attorney General Andi Muhammad Ghalib has pledged to conclude the probe before the June 7 general election.
Legal experts and students have demanded that Soeharto be named as a suspect and put on trial. But Ghalib says that won't happen because his investigators are still continuing their probe into the disgraced ex-ruler.
Syamsu Djalal, a former junior justice of intelligence affairs, who spoke during the same interview, accused the government of President B.J. Habibie of having "no political will" to resolve the Soeharto case.
Disappointed by the slow pace of the Soeharto probe, Djalal said the Attorney General's Office, his former workplace, is like NATO: No Action, Talk Only. "I think there has been no follow-up of the investigation into Soeharto," he added.
Habibie removed retired Major General Djalal from Ghalib's office several months ago amid the corruption probe into Soeharto.
Sujata was officially dismissed yesterday, and replaced by Ramelan, a junior justice for general criminal affairs.
Another three attorneys were also reshuffled, including Suhanjono, who was dismissed from his position as junior justice for penal and state administrative affairs.
A handover ceremony, presided over by Ghalib, was held yesterday morning at the Attorney General's Office. Sujata and Suhanjono did not show up.
Apart from being replaced, Sujata was also demoted from echelon A to echelon B. Both Sujata and Suhanjono were offered new positions as Ghalib's expert staff, but Sujata decided to quit.
He bitterly accepted the president's decision, but admitted he was "disappointed" by his dismissal. Sujata said the reshuffle surprised him, because he has "worked hard" to investigate corruption, collusion and nepotism (KKN) practices, including those that involved Soeharto.
However, Sujata declined to reveal the real motive behind Habibie's decision to dismiss him.
He denied reports that his dismissal was linked to the leak of transcripts of Soeharto's questioning at the Attorney General's Office on December 9 last year. The transcripts were recently carried on the Mandiri Online news website and published by other national news organizations.
"It can't have been related to that because I had knew about my dismissal 10 days ago, while the media published the leaked transcripts only one week ago," he said.
Asked whether the reshuffle was linked to a land scam involving Soeharto's youngest son Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, Sujata said: "I don't know."
He said he has worked hard to finish the corruption investigation into Tommy, whose trail opened at South Jakarta District Court last month.
Speaking to reporters yesterday, Ghalib denied there was a political motive behind Sujata's replacement. "It's only a normal modification for revitalization in order to optimize the work of the Attorney General's Office." Ghalib said there no links between the reshuffle and the leaked transcripts of the Soeharto sessions.
The dismissal of Sujata comes several days after Time magazine carried an article that said Soeharto and his six children amassed a US$15 billion (Rp120 trillion) fortune through abuse of power.
The US$15 billion assets include US$9 billion in cash that was transferred from a bank in Switzerland to another, probably safer, in Austria, shortly after Soeharto was forced out of power on May 21 last year, it said.
Ghalib and Justice Minister Muladi are set to leave for Switzerland and Austria on Sunday to trace the money. Political analysts say Habibie will only be able to boost his chances of winning the presidential election, if he manages to drag Soeharto to court.
A phone-tap recording released several months ago, featured Habibie instructing Ghalib to make sure the corruption probe into Soeharto was a "whitewash", reports said.