Vaudine England, Jakarta – Prosecutors say they will be ready to deliver a detailed indictment of former president Suharto on corruption charges in a Jakarta courtroom on Monday. But independent corruption investigators say the legal process is a sham.

"The indictment and a dossier detailing the case will be submitted to a judge in the South Jakarta District Court on Monday," said Yushar Yahya, a spokesman at the Attorney-General's office, yesterday. But District Court officials said the dossier was so thick it would take longer than Monday to read.

Suharto, who is under house arrest, will probably avoid attending the largely procedural hearing on the grounds of ill health. On Thursday, prosecutors formally charged Suharto, 79, with skimming off US$570 million in state funds through a complex network of charities that he controlled during his 32-year rule.

But Agam Fatchurrochman, of the respected Indonesian Corruption Watch, called the process "just a drama". "You know Indonesia – you can buy lawyers, judges, even [a government department] itself," said Mr Agam.

"Since Suharto's fall from office in May 1998, it has been so hard to get Suharto in front of a court. And why? Because maybe the people in the Attorney-General's office have been trying to find a formula for how to save Suharto, by just charging him about his charitable foundations. That was maybe just petty corruption."

Mr Agam, whose organisation has unearthed its own evidence of high-level corruption, including that of former attorney-general Andi Ghalib, said: "In our view, Suharto has responsibility for the Indonesian economic crisis because of his control of the economy. "In our view, this Suharto process now will go on for about two or three months only. After that the case will be dismissed; they will say something like the charges are not suitable because anyway the charitable foundations were not part of the government bureaucracy," he said.

The scepticism about recent moves against Suharto extends across a broad swathe of public opinion, with the timing of the charges against him attributed to the opening of a special parliamentary session on Monday. Juan Felix Tampubolon, head of Suharto's legal team, has also said court proceedings against his client have been timed to bolster President Abdurrahman Wahid's flagging popularity.

That popularity must be proven during the parliamentary session, thereby diverting attention from the Suharto case. Mr Agam argues that it should also not be forgotten that Attorney-General Marzuki Darusman "is a politician". "Personally and institutionally, Marzuki is part of the [formerly ruling] Golkar party," Mr Agam said. "As part of Suharto's New Order, he will still back his friends."

Corruption Watch believes the only fair answer to the Suharto issue will be a political, not legal one. "In our view, we have to take political action. The Peoples' Consultative Assembly has to declare that Suharto is found guilty and he and his family have to confess and return all stolen property to the state," said Mr Agam.

He said President Wahid's offer of a pardon to Suharto was often misunderstood, as Mr Wahid had said such a pardon would come after the former despot confessed and returned the wealth. "We agree with that," said Corruption Watch's Mr Agam. "We know Suharto can buy judges ... anyone. We fear the process is too long and that it is making new corruption."