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Editorial: The Tommy story
It is very hard to believe that Tommy Soeharto could so easily knock down the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) twice in two separate court battles
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It is very hard to believe that Tommy Soeharto could so easily knock down the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) twice in two separate court battles. Easy wins, but worth more than US$400 million. It is like daylight robbery. Did it happen because Tommy is so honest and his lawyers are so genius at convincing the judges of his honesty?
His father Soeharto was also lucky. Despite suspicion that the former first family had enriched themselves in unbelievable ways, no one could challenge their claim that they became super-rich through honest and legal means.
Tommy’s wins are naturally celebrated not only by Tommy and his five siblings but also for those who mercilessly stole people’s money as they now have little to worry about. As long as they follow the rules of the game in our judiciary system.
Thousands of state prosecutors work at the AGO with full support from the government and they have full access to all necessary documents. The government repeatedly convinced the nation there was no way for Tommy to win the two cases as the AGO has abundant evidence to prove that the youngest son of former president Soeharto had stolen money from the state coffers. But the result is zero.
“The panel of judges does not find any indication that the companies are related to each other, thus it has decided that the transaction was legal,” the panel of judges at the Central Jakarta District Court said in their verdict Wednesday.
In 1995, Soeharto granted Tommy the exclusive rights to import completely built up cars from South Korea’s KIA. Not only exempted from taxes, in 1997 Soeharto also ordered state banks to issue noncollateral loans to his beloved son’s company, PT Timor Putra Nasional worth US$690 million.
One year after Soeharto’s fall, the government seized the company, after it failed to repay its Rp 4 trillion debt. In 2003, the government resold the company’s assets to a little known company for only Rp 445 billion. The government claimed the transaction was illegal because both the seller and the buyer belong to Tommy’s companies.
Last month, a court in the British dependency of Guernsey also declared the flamboyant widower as the winner against the AGO in a battle to win a 36 million euro bank account. The AGO failed to prove that Tommy got the money from corruption.
The Goddess of Fortune is apparently always at Tommy’s side. Since his childhood he had received presidential treatment, because his father ruled the country from 1967 until his fall in 1998. Nothing was apparently impossible for him. He was taken to court for his involvement in the killing of a judge. He only had to serve a short prison sentence.
What is happening to our country, when the judiciary cannot win against Tommy, despite the state officials boast there was no chance for Tommy to escape from justice because Tommy’s money was gained through criminal means? It is a shame for us.
