Arghea Desafti Hapsari and Erwida Maulia, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Tue, 07/06/2010 11:35 AM
The Attorney General's Office (AGO) is set to make a second attempt to question a former minister and tycoon Hartono Tanoesoedibjo for alleged corruption.
AGO spokesman Didiek Darmanto said in a press conference on Monday that his office was ready to summon once again the businessman and former justice and human rights minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra for questioning on July 12.
"If *Yusril and Hartono* do not show up after repeated summonses we will forcibly bring them in for questioning," he added.
Hartono did not comply with an AGO summons last week. His attorney, Hotman Paris Hutapea, said Hartono had been abroad for medical purposes.
Last week, Yusril came to the AGO office but refused to be questioned, saying that he had come seeking clarification for why he had been summoned.
He said he refused to be questioned by Hendarman Supandji, who he claimed was not a legal attorney general.
Yusril then reported Hendarman to the police, saying the latter's tenure as an attorney general had expired on Oct. 20, 2009 - the day on which all of the tenures of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's first-term Cabinet ministers ended.
On Monday, Yusril challenged Hendarman to prove the validity of his position in court.
Hendarman said he would oblige. "I will file a request with the Constitutional Court to review articles in the AGO law," he said.
Constitutional Court chief Mahfud MD has said Hendarman's position is "problematic".
Yusril said that he understood that prosecutors at the AGO had the authority to forcibly bring him in for questioning, "but that authority is only legitimate if their appointments as prosecutors are too," he added.
The former chairman of the Muslim-based Star Crescent Party (PBB) has repeatedly called the graft allegations against him politically motivated.
The alleged graft took place in 2001, when Yusril was justice and human rights minister under former president Megawati Soekarnoputri.
The case centers on an online service initiated and owned by the Justice and Human Rights Ministry offering public services such as notarized acts and permit registration.
The website, www.sisminbakum.com, was operated by PT Sarana Rekatama Dinamika (SRD).
A contract between the ministry and SRD stipulated that 90 percent of the profits from the website would go to SRD, and the rest to ministry officials. The online service gathered an estimated Rp 420 billion from access fees between April 2001 and November 2008. (rdf)
