AGO waits for warrant to seize assets

The Attorney General’s Office (AGO) says it is waiting for government authorization to seize Hutomo “Tommy” Mandala Putra’s assets in Guernsey.

AGO’s spokesperson, Babul Khoir Harahap said the government needed to issue a letter granting this permission and prescribing measures the AGO could take to deal with the case.

“We can’t do anything to repatriate the assets until we have a special letter of authorization from the government,” AGO spokesman Babul Khoir Harahap said.

He said the letter could come from any government institution, for example the Supreme Court or the President himself, requesting the AGO represent Indonesia or its cooperation in charging Tommy for his assets in Guernsey.

The Supreme Court on July 14 ruled in favor of the Finance Ministry appeal for a review of a case involving PT Timor Putra Nasional, one of Tommy’s many companies.

The case had centered around alleged tax evasion, amounting to Rp 2.37 trillion (US$263 million).

Tommy is the youngest son of late former president Soeharto.

The Asset Tracing Working Group, a graft watchdog, said the review would be a good opportunity for the Indonesian government to repatriate funds held in the account of PT Garnet, Tommy’s other company, at a bank in Guernsey, BNP Paribas, amounting to ¤36 million.

In 2009, the Guernsey court declined the request filed by the Indonesian government to freeze the BNP Paribas account. The court also declined the government’s request for BNP Paribas to share information connected to funds into and out of the PT Garnet account.

The court declined the requests, stating that the Indonesian government had not launched a serious campaign in Indonesia to retrieve Tommy’s assets in Indonesia.

The court also pointed out that Tommy had not been charged for corruption in cases involving his other companies including PT Goro and PT Timor Putra Nasional, the Asset Tracing Working Group’s report said.

“The letter would give authority to the AGO to represent the state.

“And since this will be a civil lawsuit, the Attorney General for State Administrative Affairs will be the recipient of the authorization letter,” Babul said Wednesday.

So far, there has been no word on renewing efforts to repatriate Tommy’s offshore assets, he said.

Thus, the role the AGO could play in these efforts remained unclear, he added.

“So, we can’t talk about what our future steps might be in the absence of the authorization letter.”

The Guernsey Federal Intelligence Service (FIS) issued an order to freeze Tommy’s accounts in 2007 based on suspicions that the funds resulted from crime.

Upon the order’s expiry in 2009, however, the FIS has not yet granted consent for BNP Paribas to release PT Garnet’s funds.

According to Adnan T. Husodo, the lack of movement from the Indonesian government reflected the government’s complacence in seizing Tommy’s offshore assets. (gzl)