Indonesian President Pledges to Bring Soeharto's Family to CourtIndonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid said Friday in Jakarta that he will keep pursuing the corruption cases involving former President Soeharto and his family in court.Wahid made the statement just a day after the prosecuting attorney of Soeharto's corruption case submitted an appeal against a court ruling abolishing Soeharto's corruption case in late September. The corruption charge against Soeharto was dropped by the South Jakarta District Court due to the bad health condition of the defendant. The court made the decision after receiving medical reports from state-appointed doctors who conducted comprehensive medical checkups on the 79-year-old man several times. Soeharto was declared unfit both mentally and physically to stand trial for good. Meanwhile, commenting on the case of Soeharto's youngest son, Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, Wahid said he will uphold the law in Tommy's case, adding," The government should be upholding the law, no matter whose children." Tommy, 37 years old, has filed a pardon to the incumbent president after being found guilty by the country's supreme court in a multimillion-dollar graft scandal involving the State Logistic Agency in 1997. But Wahid has indicated that he would not give a pardon to Tommy. Tommy was sentenced to 18 months in jail and ordered by the court to pay an equivalent of 3.5 million U.S. dollars in fine. |
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