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Prosecutors tighten screws on former first family

Prosecutors yesterday began questioning the eldest daughter of former dictator Suharto over corruption allegations involving Indonesia's state oil and gas company.

Separately, Mr Suharto's half brother, Probosutedjo, was named as being involved in corrupt reforestation projects.

State prosecutors say the growing number of cases against the Suharto family is part of the due process of law. Others see the legal moves as efforts by the Government of President Abdurrahman Wahid to close in on his political foes.

Mr Suharto's daughter, Siti 'Tutut' Hardyanti Rukmana, finally arrived at the Attorney-General's office yesterday after earlier having claimed ill-health in order to avoid previous appointments.

She is accused of overcharging the state-owned Pertamina oil and gas firm for work on an unfinished pipeline project 10 years ago. This apparently caused state losses amounting to US$31.5 million (HK$242 million). She was named a suspect in the case last week and has been banned from travelling abroad for 12 months.

Emerging after nine hours of questioning, Kyodo reported Ms Siti Hardyanti, 52, as saying: 'I don't feel I did anything wrong. I don't think I have cheated the state.' She answered 60 questions and her lawyer said she was ready for another questioning session soon.

Ms Siti Hardyanti said she had 'all the necessary evidence' that she was not guilty. 'I don't know if this case is politically motivated but I hope that I will get a fair treatment of justice,' she said.

Meanwhile, Mr Probosutedjo is accused of marking up a government equity and reforestation fund by US$5 million to sustain a timber estate in South Kalimantan, according to Attorney-General's office spokesman Muljohardjo.

This case is one of many disclosed recently by the Forestry Ministry as it endeavours to recover tens of millions of dollars of misused reforestation money.

Erry Putra Oudang, a nephew of the late former first lady Tien Suharto, has also been banned from travelling. He is a suspect in a US$113 million mark-up scandal involving the Balongan oil refinery project in West Java.

Along with Mr Suharto's son Sigit Harjojudanto and another businessman, Mr Oudang is alleged to have helped British firm Foster Wheeler secure the project for a US$60 million pay-off.

The new charges follow the failure of state prosecutors to try the former president on US$570 million corruption charges on the grounds of his ill-health.

Youngest son Hutomo 'Tommy' Mandala Putra remains on the run following his 18-month sentence last year on a US$11 million corruption charge.

Police have apparently made half-hearted efforts to capture the fugitive but few people expect ever to see him in jail. At the same time, timber tycoon Mohammad 'Bob' Hasan, who was also Mr Suharto's golfing partner, has been sentenced to two years' imprisonment for corruption, but the court ordered him to be held under house arrest.

The Government's laboured efforts to put at least one member of the Suharto family behind bars has been re-energised by the corruption allegations now levelled against Mr Wahid by Parliament. Parliament also recently agreed to proceed with moves that eventually could lead to Mr Wahid's impeachment.

Beyond the short-term politicking, observers and legal experts say the Government's moves against the Suhartos, though flawed, are succeeding in one way.

'The Government will probably never put any of them into jail, but it is a fact that everyone in this family is now being hassled,' a foreign lawyer said. 'And they're being forced into defending themselves. They know people are out to get them.'

Earlier predictions by groups such as Indonesian Corruption Watch that Mr Suharto would evade conviction and that Hutomo, 38, would avoid imprisonment would appear to have come true.

But the once-leading clan now has problems they obviously never anticipated.

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