Strong evidence against Soeharto, says AGO

9/14/2007

JAKARTA : The Attorney General's Office (AGO) said Friday it is ready to use "strong evidence" to prove Soeharto illegally channeled funds from his Supersemar Foundation to his family and confidants, instead of giving the money to recipients of the scholarship scheme.

The first court session for the civil case against former president Soeharto and the foundation has been scheduled for September 24.

AGO prosecutors and the former president's lawyers failed to reach any agreements after several mediation meetings held over the last three weeks.

AGO's director for civil and state administrative crimes Yoseph Suardi Sabda said their evidence included documents signed by Soeharto for the disbursement of funds to a number of institutions, as well as other documents concerning the foundation's activities.

Soeharto established the foundation based on a government regulation in 1976 to provide scholarships to needy students using donations collected from businessmen.

In the last mediation meeting on September 4, the former president's lawyers said they were optimistic about winning the case.

They said their client had not violated any regulations during his tenure as the foundation's chairman. (Desy Nurhayati)