SUHARTO
Suharto to donate defamation money
Indonesia's ex-dictator Suharto will give
to the poor money he has been awarded in a lawsuit against US-based Time
magazine if an appeal by its publisher fails, his lawyer said yesterday.
Indonesia's Supreme Court in September
awarded the former president US$106 million in a defamation suit he brought
against Time for alleging that he corruptly amassed his wealth and
squirrelled it away abroad.
Time has vowed to fight the decision and
petition the Supreme Court to review its ruling, its only remaining legal
avenue for appeal. The case could still take years to be resolved.
'In the lawsuit document, we include a
statement from Suharto (saying) that if we win, the proceeds will be donated
to the poor,' Suharto's lawyer Muhammad Assegaf told AFP.
Mr Suharto told Gatra news magazine in an
edition that hit newsstands last week that the money, after he pays taxes of
35 per cent, 'is to help poor people'. The interview took place at Mr
Suharto's home and was published as a transcription. The 86-year-old
president stumbled as he tried to answer and questions were repeated so he
could answer properly.
Mr Suharto also told the magazine that he
had not kept any money in Switzerland, one of the locations he has been
accused of hiding cash in.
'It's not true. If there are any (funds),
let them be given to the people. But, in fact, there are none,' he said.
Mr Suharto, who is still respected by
many in positions of power in Indonesia despite his ignominious fall in
1998, has never stood trial to face allegations of massive corruption.
A criminal trial against him was
abandoned on health grounds last year, while a civil suit brought by the
government currently being heard by the courts is seeking US$1.4 billion in
returned assets and damages.
Transparency International cited the
leader in a 2004 report as being the world's most corrupt leader ever,
accusing him of stealing US$15-35 billion in state assets. --
2007 November 2 AFP
Suharto
wins US$106m damages over Time article
Indonesia's Supreme Court yesterday ordered Time
magazine to pay US$106 million (HK$826.8 million) in damages for defaming
former dictator Suharto by alleging his family amassed US$15 billion during
his 32-year rule.
The May 1999 cover story in the magazine's Asian edition said much of the
money had been transferred from Switzerland to Austria before Suharto
stepped down amid riots and pro- democracy protests in 1998.
Suharto, who has also been accused of rights abuses, had filed a lawsuit
with the Central District Court in Jakarta and later the Jakarta High Court,
both of which ruled in Time's favor.
A panel of three Supreme Court judges, including a retired general who
rose in the military ranks during Suharto's administration, overturned the
decisions on August 31. The ruling ordered Time Inc Asia and six employees
to apologize in leading Indonesian magazines and newspapers as well as
Time's Asian, European and America editions.
"Time magazine has to pay US$106 million for defaming Suharto,"
Supreme Court spokesman Nurhadi said.
"The article and photographs hurt the image and pride of the
plaintiff as a great retired army general and the former Indonesian
president."
Suharto's lawyer, Muhamad Assegaf, welcomed the "surprise
verdict."
Suharto, now 86, seized power in a 1965 coup that left up to half a
million people dead and ruled the country with an iron fist for the next
three decades, killing or imprisoning hundreds of thousands of political
opponents.
He has evaded prosecution on charges of embezzling state funds, with
lawyers successfully arguing he is too ill to stand trial, and has never
been tried for human rights abuses.
Still, Suharto faces a lawsuit filed by the attorney general that seeks
to retrieve US$1.54 billion in alleged stolen state funds.
The Time article alleged that Suharto and his children amassed US$73
billion, the bulk from oil and mining, forestry, property, banking and
petrochemicals, but lost much of it during the 1997 Asian financial crisis.
It alleged the family had US$15 billion in 1999.
Time could not be immediately reached for comment about the court ruling.
But it earlier said its article was based on four months of reporting in 11
countries that uncovered a complex network of corporate investments, bank
transfers and property holdings in Switzerland, Uzbekistan and Nigeria.
- 2007 September 11 ASSOCIATED PRESS
Suharto's son denies graft in clove
trade
(JAKARTA) The son of former
Indonesian president Suharto denied on Thursday that he had misused central
bank funds in a 175 billion rupiah (S$28.4 million) graft case involving the
lucrative clove trade to manufacture cigarettes.
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Tommy: He was questioned for
seven hours at the attorney general's office |
Hutomo 'Tommy' Mandala Putra, youngest
son of the former autocratic leader, was questioned at the attorney
general's office over the alleged misuse of central bank assistance given to
a lucrative clove monopoly agency he chaired in the 1990s.
The agency, known as BPPC, was set up by
then-president Suharto to protect clove farmers from fluctuating prices.
'There was no misuse. The rules were clear and the loan agreement made it
clear it was only for clove trade,' he told reporters after seven hours of
questioning.
The agency's 569 billion rupiah of debt
owed to the central bank was paid by a state-owned bank in 1993 and the
agency settled its debt with that bank two years later, he said. Tommy,
recently named a suspect in the case, said he suspected that the move by the
attorney general's office to implicate him was linked to a government effort
to seize millions of dollars he deposited in Guernsey.
Indonesian prosecutors say that the money
was obtained illegally.
'I hope they are not making up problems
because there are no problems here,' he said.
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono came to power in 2004 promising to tackle endemic graft, and
officials ranging from former ministers to provincial governors have been
jailed on corruption charges.
But the anti-graft drive is being closely
watched after critics say it has failed to take on powerful vested
interests.
Last month, prosecutors filed a civil
suit against Suharto senior seeking to recover hundreds of millions of
dollars in state funds allegedly misused by one of his charitable
foundations.
The former president, who resigned in
1998 amid civil unrest, was himself charged with graft but escaped
prosecution after he was deemed too ill to stand trial. Both he and his
family members deny any wrongdoing.
Cases against the Suharto family have
often failed to make ground, prompting accusations that Indonesia's legal
system can be bent in favour of the rich and powerful.
Tommy did not show up for questioning in
the clove trade graft case last week after his lawyer said he was sick and
required bed rest.
Tommy, 44, was conditionally released
from jail last October, after serving a third of his original sentence for
plotting the murder of a Supreme Court judge who had convicted him in
another graft case.
-- Reuters
18 August 2007
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