The Attorney General's Office (AGO) said Wednesday it would soon file an appeal with the Guernsey Supreme Court to fight for the Indonesian government's right to freeze 36 million euro (US$48 million) claimed by Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, son of the former president Soeharto.
"The High Court of Guernsey has allowed us to file an appeal to the Privy Council, so we're now in the middle of preparing our documents for the appeal," Attorney General Hendarman Supandji said.
An AGO official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the documents were slated to be ready by this week.
"So it looks likely that we'll send the dossier to Guernsey next week," the official said.
Hendarman said the appeal was intended to extend the freeze on 36 million euro of Tommy's funds, stored at the Guernsey branch of French bank BNP Paribas.
"If we win the case against Tommy, we'll be able to withdraw the funds," he said.
The planned appeal is considered the government's latest bid to recover funds from the youngest son of Soeharto, the former strongman who died last year, 10 years after he was forced to relinquish in 1998 his 32-year choke hold on the country.
Prosecutor Joseph Suardi Sabda, who attended the previous trial in Guernsey, said the AGO was still optimistic it could win the case on appeal.
One of the reasons, he added, was because the panel of High Court judges had drawn a misleading conclusion that originated from an unclear comparison.
Joseph said the judges had suggested the Indonesian government consider rooting out Tommy's funds from elsewhere, rather than withdraw the money that was stored in Guernsey, considering that Tommy was reported to have more than US$80 million worth of assets.
"It is obviously a misleading conclusion that used an unclear comparison. How did they know about the existence of Tommy's other fortunes?" Joseph said.
"The panel of judges should focus on the evidence that we delivered at the trial, instead of making such an unclear comparison. It is rather fatal and we are going to use it later on."
When asked whether Tommy had withdrawn the funds from the bank, Joseph admitted he had not yet received any official notification about it.
"If Tommy has withdrawn the money, then he must have informed the court about it," he said.
"The court will them notify us about any withdrawals. But to date, we have not yet received any information about this."
Under the British legal system, Tommy is now allowed to withdraw the money, after the High Court of Guernsey ruled in favor of him.
The case began when British authorities froze the 36 million euro in Tommy's Guernsey account based on a request by the AGO, which claimed the money had been embezzled through corruption in Indonesia.
