http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/indonesia-bid-on-soeharto-wealth/2007/05/13/1178994992447.html
Indonesia bid on Soeharto wealth Mark Forbes, Jakarta May 13, 2007 IN A Guernsey island courtroom today, the Indonesian Government will claim former president Soeharto's family siphoned off billions of public dollars and move to seize funds deposited in the British tax haven. The test case is aimed at $50 million in an account of the military dictator's son, Hutomo Mandala Putra, universally known as "Tommy". Indonesia then hopes to recover more of the Soeharto family's riches in local courts. Evidence being presented by Indonesia, obtained by The Age, states Tommy Soeharto's companies fraudulently received funds from public foundations chaired by then president Soeharto and he did not pay massive debts to the state. It also claimed he monopolised and exploited Indonesia's clove industry as head of the clove marketing agency, enriching himself at the expense of farmers. The Government case contains admissions that it has taken years to diminish the former president's influence. "He appointed nearly every judge, the heads of every state-owned enterprise and reviewed every moderately sized foreign investment," says a court statement. "During the period that president Soeharto was in office it became increasingly difficult to do business in Indonesia without the necessity to make corrupt payment to intermediaries, often connected with the Soeharto family. Tommy was in the forefront when it came to realising opportunities to obtain financial benefit from government contracts by interposing himself or one of his companies into transactions involving government agencies to which he was contributing no economic value whatsoever." The Attorney-General's director of civil cases, Yosef Suardi Sabda, to attend today's hearing, said the Government was continuing to investigate and looking to open a fresh case in Jakarta. It wants Tommy Soeharto's funds returned or frozen. The investigation has resulted in the past two justice ministers, Hamid Alawudin and predecessor Yusril Mahendra, being thrown out of cabinet last week. Both were implicated in authorising the use of department accounts to disperse money to Tommy Soeharto. That his administration's most senior legal officials apparently provided their own money-laundering service may have been the final straw for the reformist President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. The two former ministers were involved in producing a letter clearing the way for $12 million frozen in one of Tommy Soeharto's bank accounts with the Bank Nationale de Paris Paribas, allowing the funds to be sent to government accounts then given to him. The Guernsey case relates to more BNP funds, which the Government claims originate from corruption. With KARUNI ROMPIES [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Post message: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe : [EMAIL PROTECTED] List owner : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
