AGO Observes Cendana Family’s Assets
Friday, 01 February, 2008 | 12:52 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: The State Attorney (Attorney General’s Office) stated that the assets of former president Suharto’s beneficiaries must be observed as they are to replace their father’s position as the defendant in the Supersemar Foundation civil case. Yoseph Suarda Sabda, a member of the state attorney’s team, said that the perspective is necessary so as there will be no impediment when the payment obligation must be fulfilled.

Yoseph acknowledged that the AGO has not yet had the complete data regarding the assets of Suharto’s six children. So far, he said, the AGO has only supervised the assets of Hutomo Mandala Putra (Tommy Suharto), Suharto’s youngest son. “Which are in Guernsey and in Bank Mandiri in the Timor Putra Nasional case.”

Earlier, Yoseph said that the late Suharto’s children have a burden replacing their father’s position as the defendant in the Supersemar Foundation civil case. The AGO as the state attorney charged the New Order ruler and Supersemar Foundation at the South Jakarta District Court US$425 million and Rp185 billion for the material losses and Rp10 trillion for the immaterial losses.

Juan Felix Tampubolon, Suharto’s lawyer, said that the AGO’s plan is unreasonable. “That doesn’t make sense. Overreact. They don’t have the right to scrutinize the assets, except the ones that are confiscated,” he said.
According to him, the principle of a civil claim is paying compensation. “A civil claim is addressed to the wealth of the defendant,” he said. So, said Juan, if the defendant dies, the wealth is inherited . “It’s not the beneficiary’s personal wealth,” he said. “Moreover the beneficiary can accept or refuse the claim.”

Former Suharto’s lawyer, Otto Cornelis Kaligis, stressed that what the beneficiary obtains is the right over all goods, rights and receivables. “A charge is not included in the inherited part,” he said. “As regards the debt the beneficiary must repay, it must also be clear, the amount or the cause of the debt.”

A civil claim expert from Padjadjaran University, Bandung, Isis Ikhwansyah, said that according to the Civil Code, a beneficiary in a civil claim case can in fact refuse or accept the case. “It means that if he refused the case, he mustn’t accept all the heritage,” said Isis when contacted by Tempo last Thursday (31/1).

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