SUHARTO-LINKED FOUNDATION FOUND LIABLE FOR $110

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 JAKARTA 000640 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR EAP, EAP/MTS, EAP/MLS, EEB/IFD/OMA, INL DEPT FOR INL - C. BOULDIN DOJ/OPDAT FOR LEHMANN/ALEXANDRE/BERMAN TREASURY FOR IA-BAUKOL DEPT PASS TO EXIM BANK DEPT PASS TO FEDERAL RESERVE BANK SAN FRANCISCO FOR FINEMAN DEPT PASS TO USTR FOR DKATZ, BRAE NSC FOR E.PHU E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/01/2018 TAGS: PGOV KJUS KCOR KMCA ID SUBJECT: SUHARTO-LINKED FOUNDATION FOUND LIABLE FOR $110 MILLION REF: A. JAKARTA 433 ¶B. 07 JAKARTA 2974 Classified By: Pol/C Joseph Legend Novak, reasons 1.4(b+d). ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: An Indonesian court ruled on March 27 that the Suharto family-linked Supersemar Foundation had diverted state funds. The court ordered the Foundation to pay $110 million. The court ruled, however, that the Suharto family was not liable. It is positive that the Indonesian legal system is trying to get at some of the Suharto network's ill-gotten wealth. That said, years of legal maneuvering probably lie ahead before even a rupiah is collected. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (SBU) BACKGROUND: The Supersemar Foundation was established at the order of the Suharto government in 1975 in order to provide scholarships to poor students, athletes and foster children. In 1976, the GOI mandated that all state-owned banks give five percent of their profits to the fund. The Foundation also received other financial support, particularly from "private" donations (made basically thanks to arm-twisting by the Suhartos and their cronies, especially of wealthy Chinese Indonesians). After dropping an earlier criminal suit against Suharto regarding the Foundation and how its funds were used, prosecutors launched the current civil suit in 2007. ¶3. (SBU) The suit alleged that the illegal diversion of funds donated by GOI institutions resulted in the loss to the state of approximately $440 million. The case has drawn widespread attention due the involvement of the Suharto family in the matter. The Court earlier ruled that the legal case had not ceased when former president Suharto died in early 2008. The case is one of several that the GOI is pursuing in its attempt to recover some of the billions of dollars that were stolen from public coffers during the Suharto regime (see ref A). ¶4. (U) THE RULING: The South Jakarta District Court ruled on March 27 that the Supersemar Foundation had illegally diverted millions of dollars in fund proceeds to private companies with links to the Suharto family. The Court agreed with the prosecution's claim that the diverted funds totaled some USD $440 million, but held that the source of those funds remained unclear. Since the prosecution was unable to provide definitive proof of exactly how much of the money came from government--as opposed to private--sources, the court decided the foundation should re-pay a flat 25 percent of the total, or approximately $110 million, back to the State. The Court also noted that it did not want to harm the Foundation by assessing the full amount demanded by prosecutors because the Foundation continued to do some charitable work. ¶5. (U) The court also ruled that the Suharto family was not personally responsible for the diversion of funds. Due to this ruling, they were not assessed to pay anything. ¶6. (SBU) APPEALS TO COME: Lawyers for the foundation said they would appeal the decision. This means likely consideration by both the Appeals and the Supreme Courts before a final decision is reached, a process which could take years. Defense lawyers claim the arbitrary 25-percent compensation formula is proof of the government's inability to document its case. They also claim that the money given to Supersemar by private donations made up a larger portion JAKARTA 00000640 002 OF 002 of the funds, whereas the government can only seek the return of public funding. ¶7. (U) The prosecution has also announced that it may appeal on two bases: First, because the Suharto family was not held liable; and, second, because the requested amount of damages put forward by the prosecution had been slashed to a fourth of the total. ¶8. (C) A SOLOMONIC RULING: It is positive that via this ruling the Indonesian legal system is trying to get at some of the Suharto network's ill-gotten wealth. That said, years of legal maneuvering probably lie ahead before even a rupiah is collected. If nothing else, the court's ruling on the foundation's liability basically confirms what most Indonesians have long suspected--the Suhartos used foundations like Supersemar to rack up public money and dish it out to themselves and their cronies. The exoneration of the Suharto family, however, was a bit galling. The case provides yet another example of the apparent reluctance of Indonesian courts to sanction the late president and his family, even after his death (ref B). HUME