---------------------------------------------------------- Visit Indonesia Daily News Online HomePage: http://www.indo-news.com/ Please Visit Our Sponsor http://www.indo-news.com/cgi-bin/ads1 ---------------------------------------------------------- Time magazine stringer answers Indonesian police summons JAKARTA, July 23 (AFP) - An Indonesian stringer for the US magazine Time was quizzed by police for two and a half hours Friday in connection with a Time article which alleged the family of former Indonesian president Suharto was sitting on a 15-billion dollar fortune. Zamira Loebis, an academic and Time stringer, answered a summons to the central Jakarta police station accompanied by Time's Indonesian lawyer, Todung Mulya Lubis, an AFP reporter there said. Lawyers for the former head of state, currently hospitalized after suffering a mild stroke, filed a criminal complaint against Time last month over the story on the family wealth it published on May 24. Suharto also filed a separate 27 billion dollar defamation suit against Time, charging it had damaged not only his name, but the name of the Indonesian nation. "Zamira Loebis was investigated as a witness and not a suspect. The suspects are the chief editors of Time magazine in New York," Lubis told reporters after the lengthy question session. Lubis charged that Indonesian courts had no authority to process the case, as, under Indonesian law, the chief editors of a publication hold full responsibility for any legal complaints. "Because the complaint was made in Indonesia, we follow Indonesian laws ... Time chief editors aren't in Indonesia. So, the complaint should have been filed where the editors reside. "I will legally ask whether the locus delicti is Indonesia and whether the authorities have the right to act on this case," he added. Lubis said the process could go on even while the 78-year-old strongman was under medical treatment. The head of the national police detectives, Major General Da'i Bachtiar said police were collecting information from witnesses from various sides. "In the end we would like (to meet with the chief editors) but they are not in Indonesia. Maybe through their lawyer ...something could be worked out," Bachtiar said. He too said Suharto's illness would not stall the investigation. But while police are following up the Suharto complaint, the Indonesian attorney general's office said Thursday it had suspended its own probe into Suharto's alleged fortune until he was "100 percent recovered." The probe would be dropped altogther if the 78-year-old former head of state died, officials said. Time in its May 24 edition said that of the 15 billion dollars allegedly held by the family, nine billion dollars had been removed from a Swiss bank and transfered to an Austrian bank. The US weekly said the transfer had been made shortly after Suharto resigned in May last year amid massive rioting and calls for reform. Lubis who had just returned from meetings with Time lawyers and editors in New York said the magazine was ready to go to court if necessary. "The question is whether the Indonesian court is ready for this case," he added. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Didistribusikan tgl. 24 Jul 1999 jam 07:21:17 GMT+1 oleh: Indonesia Daily News Online <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.Indo-News.com/ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
