Officials take look at Tommy graft charge

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Tue, 01/30/2007 3:59 PM

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Attorney General's Office is collecting data to prove that Tommy Soeharto laundered 36 million euros (US$46.7 million), which he allegedly kept it in a French bank.

""We are collecting evidence to prove that Tommy illegally obtained the money,"" Attorney General Abdul Rahman Saleh told reporters Monday on the sidelines of a meeting with the House of Representatives' legal commission.

Abdul Rahman said his office had evidence Tommy Soeharto opened the account shortly after his father's New Order regime collapsed.

Tommy, former president Soeharto's youngest son, got an early release from prison in October 2006 after serving just a third of a 15-year jail term for ordering the murder of a Supreme Court justice.

Abdul Rahman said his office would bring the evidence on March 8 to a court in Guernsey, a British crown dependency off the northern French coast. The Guernsey court is already trying a case filed by Tommy's company, Garnet Investment Ltd., against Bank BNP Paribas.

Tommy's company sued the bank because it refused to release 36 million euros, and perhaps as much as 75 million euros, British business daily, the Financial Times, reported last week.

""BNP Paribas assumed the money in the bank was obtained from corruption here,"" said Abdul Rahman. ""Therefore the court asked whether the Indonesian government was willing to take part in the trial as a third party.""

Indonesia believes the money was obtained through corruption and belongs to the state.

Tommy's lawyer OC Kaligis denied the accusation.

""Garnet acquires the money from trading in Europe. It was not obtained through corruption,"" Kaligis was quoted as saying by the news portal Detik.com.

""The Financial Report and Analysis Center in Indonesia has the report,"" he added.

Abdul Rahman said the Attorney General Office's involvement in the case did not necessarily mean that Tommy would be officially charged with graft.

""We will appear in the court case on the bank's freezing of Tommy's money,"" he said.

The Attorney General's Office, however, declined to answer reporters' question about the possibility of sending Tommy to a local court on money laundering or graft charges.

Tommy, 44, and his siblings continue to run many companies they established during Soeharto's heydey.

Soeharto resigned from his presidency on May 21, 1998, after ruling the country for more than three decades. He and his family had allegedly amassed a huge fortune during the dictatorship. (06)

Copyright © 2008 The Jakarta Post - PT Bina Media Tenggara. All Rights Reserved.