SBY: Reports are lies, Wikileaks not valid

Presidential spokesman Julian Aldrin Pasha says Australian media reports that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono abused his power are lies, adding that the source of the information, WikiLeaks, is not valid.

“[The reports] are not based on facts and tend to be lies. They refer to WikiLeaks, which means they are … not credible and inaccurate,” Julian said, as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.

He added that Yudhoyono had read the reports this morning and was startled.

An Australian newspaper, The Age, had published an article titled ”Yudhoyono 'abused power'”, which quoted US embassy cables exposed via WikiLeaks that alleged the President was guilty of corruption and abuse of power, tempointeraktif.com reported Friday.

Another version of the story was printed in the Sydney Morning Herald.

Among allegations were that Yudhoyono, according to sources in the US Embassy in Indonesia, had personally intervened to halt the prosecution of Taufik Kiemas, the husband of former president Megawati Soekarnoputri, in an alleged graft case centering around infrastructure projects in several locations in Indonesia.

Yudhoyono, the reports say, had personally instructed then attorney general Hendarman Supandji not to pursue the case against Taufik, who now chairs the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR).