T

he Indonesian government says it now has a chance to seize ¤36 million (US$52 million) from Hutomo “Tommy” Mandala Putra, the son of former president Soeharto, after he lost a judicial review at the Guernsey Court of Appeals in Britain.

The court sided with the Guernsey Financial Intelligence Service (FIS) in the case, according to the verdict issued on Monday.

“The latest development means that the funds in a Guernsey account that Tommy Soeharto has claimed that are allegedly proceeds from a crime will continue to be informally frozen until Tommy Soeharto can prove that the source of the money is clean,” the Asset Tracking Working Group said in a press release made available to tribunnews.com on Wednesday.

Tommy’s company, Garnet Investment Limited, has been caught in a dispute with the Indonesian government in the Guernsey court over funds he allegedly amassed through corrupt practices.

The case began when FIS froze Tommy’s account at Banque Nationale de Paris (BNP) Paribas on Guernsey Island, following a request from the Attorney General’s Office (AGO), which claimed that the money had been embezzled through corruption in Indonesia.

Disappointed with the decision, Tommy took the case to the island’s district court, which later issued a verdict in favor of the bank. The court also asked the Indonesian government to prove its allegations about the money’s origins.

The battle then entered a second round after Tommy won an appeal that said that the Indonesian
government failed to convince the court that the funds were obtained illegally.

The Indonesian government then appealed to the Privy Council in London, hoping that body would see the case differently. The council, however, supported the lower court’s verdict.

Indonesia Corruption Watch member Adnan Topan Husodo, also a member of the working group, said Tommy had been unable to declare a legal source for the funds after the FIS refused to give consent to the funds’ withdrawal from BNP Paribas Guernsey nine years ago.

“The decision by the Guernsey Court of Appeals is a historic moment in the global effort to eradicate money laundering,” Adnan said.

One of the AGO officials handling the case, Cahyaning, said that the AGO would meet with the Finance Ministry and Foreign Ministry to determine next steps following Monday’s verdict.

“There remains an opportunity for us, but we’ll have to look at other legal options,” Cahyaning said as quoted by detik.com.

As previously reported, the Indonesian government would be able to claim the funds if it could prove to the Guernsey court that Tommy was involved in corrupt practices in Indonesia.

So far, however, no legal proceeding have found Tommy guilty.

The last legal attempt against him was a civil lawsuit worth Rp 1.2 trillion involving his company, automaker PT Timor Putra Nasional.

The Supreme Court approved a judicial review of the case in July 2010.