INDONESIA: INDONESIAN OFFICIALS QUESTION THE ELDEST DAUGHTER OF DISGRACED FORMER LEADER SUHARTO

Record ID: 647823

  • Title: INDONESIA: INDONESIAN OFFICIALS QUESTION THE ELDEST DAUGHTER OF DISGRACED FORMER LEADER SUHARTO
  • Date: 20th February 2001
  • Summary: JAKARTA, INDONESIA (FEBRUARY 20, 2001) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. SV SITI 'TUTUT' HARDIYANTI RUKMANA ARRIVING AT ATTORNEY GENERAL'S OFFICE 0.28 2. SV/SLV OF TUTUT PUSHING THROUGH JOURNALISTS AND ENTERING BUILDING (2 SHOTS) 0.36 3. LAS ATTORNEY GENERAL'S BUILDING 0.40 4. SLV JOURNALISTS WAITING 0.45 5. SV TUTUT WALKING INTO ROOM FOR NEWS CONFERENCE/JOURNALISTS (2 SHOTS) 0.55 6. MCU (Bahasa Indonesia) TUTUT: "I am fulfilling my judicial duty by coming down here. I failed to come last Friday, because I was not feeling well." 1.10 7. SV TUTUT AT PRESS CONFERENCE 1.13 8. MCU (Bahasa Indonesia) TUTUT: "Everything has been conducted according to the existing laws" 1.21 9. LV/MCU/SV TUTUT WALKING TO CAR (3 SHOTS) 1.46 10. SLV CAR LEAVING 1.56 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 7th March 2001 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: JAKARTA, INDONESIA
  • Country: Indonesia
  • Reuters ID: LVA5WUCZYSQBGV46NHSBTNQOXIOF
  • Story Text: Indonesian officials have begun questioning the eldest
    daughter of disgraced former leader Suharto after naming her a
    suspect in a graft case.



    A smiling Siti "Tutut" Hardiyanti Rukmana, who served
    as a minister in her father's last cabinet, arrived on Tuesday
    (February 20) at the attorney general's office in Jakarta with
    12 bodyguards pushing a way for her through a throng of
    waiting journalists.

    Tutut, who failed to show for two earlier sessions, was
    questioned for more than nine hours.

    "I am fulfilling my judicial duty by coming down here. I
    failed to come last Friday, because I was not feeling well,"
    Tutut told journalists after the session.

    The government is investigating a $US 31.4 million usd
    claim by PT Triharsa Buminusa Tunggal, which she headed, over
    a pipeline project with state oil company Pertamina.

    Triharsa was appointed as coordinator in 1987 but the
    project eventually failed to take off.

    However, the company still made a claim, which Pertamina
    paid, even though under the agreement it should only have been
    settled after the project was completed.

    The government has already banned her from leaving the
    country for one year.

    Tutut was the most politically active of her siblings and,
    apparently, was being groomed to succeed her father before his
    abrupt downfall in 1998 amid mass protests and economic
    collapse.

    The Suharto family and their cronies built up huge wealth
    during the former president's rule when Indonesia became a
    byword for corruption.

    All have denied any wrongdoing. So far, only one son and a
    golfing buddy of Suharto have been found guilty of graft. The
    son, Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, is still on the run from a
    jail sentence handed down last September.

    "Everything has been conducted according to the existing
    laws," Tutut said.

    On Monday (February 19), the authorities named the former
    autocrat's half-brother Probosutedjo a suspect in a
    multi-million-dollar graft scandal involving reforestation
    funds.

    Earlier this month, the Supreme Court rejected a
    government appeal to try Suharto for corruption on the grounds
    the 79-year-old was too ill.

    A case against him on charges of embezzling some $500
    million usd was dropped last year.

    (lh/sr)

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