The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition -- October 2, 2001
Business and Finance - Asia
Court Overturns Graft Conviction
For Suharto's Fugitive Son Hutomo
By TIMOTHY MAPES and PUSPA MADANI
Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
JAKARTA, Indonesia -- Indonesia's Supreme Court overturned a graft
conviction against Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, the fugitive son of
former President Suharto, in a surprise decision that underlined the
problems this nation faces in grappling with years of rampant
corruption.
Mr. Hutomo vanished last November after the same court sentenced him
to 18 months in jail for cheating a state agency out of $10 million in
a 1995 land swindle. Since then, police have publicly accused Mr.
Hutomo of masterminding the brutal daylight assassination of the judge
who originally convicted him and organizing a string of deadly
bombings, turning the 39-year old former businessman and race-car
driver into Indonesia's most-wanted criminal. Mr. Hutomo's lawyers
deny their client's involvement in the assassination and the bombings.
On Monday, the Supreme Court's review panel overturned last year's
decision, ruling that Mr. Hutomo couldn't be held personally
responsible for the activities of the company -- PT Goro Batara Sakti
-- that engaged in the land deal because in his position as "president
commissioner" he wouldn't have been involved in its day-to-day
activities.
"Based on today's decision, Hutomo Mandala Putra must be freed from
all the accusations related to the land-exchange case," M. Taufik, the
head of the Supreme Court's judicial review panel, said in a telephone
interview. "His name must be rehabilitated."
Lawyers for Mr. Hutomo praised the decision, but added that it isn't
clear whether Mr. Hutomo will emerge from hiding.
"I hope Tommy will appear right away to clear his name, especially the
public accusation that he's involved with murder," said Nurdin Munir,
one of Mr. Hutomo's lawyers. A spokesman for the Attorney General's
Office, which prosecuted the land swindle charges, said it hasn't yet
decided how to respond to the Supreme Court decision.
The ruling was another major blow for the Indonesian government's
faltering efforts to punish the people behind the massive corruption
that prevailed during the 32-year rule of Mr. Suharto -- a campaign
that many analysts believe is critical to the success of economic
reforms here. Although it is widely believed that the former first
family used its influence to amass billions of dollars through corrupt
business practices, Mr. Hutomo was the only member of the former
autocrat's family to be convicted. Mr. Suharto, 80, was charged last
year in a separate graft case but has so far evaded prosecution by
claiming that he is too ill to face trial.
The 11-month manhunt for Mr. Hutomo has also discouraged Indonesian
reformists, who are convinced the often farcical nature of the chase
shows how Mr. Suharto and his allies continue to wield huge influence
more than three years after the former general resigned amid a popular
uprising.
The police have repeatedly appeared hapless in pursuing Mr. Hutomo,
convincing many people that he must be receiving assistance from Mr.
Suharto's allies in the security forces. In one incident, an effort to
drill into a "secret bunker" under the Suharto family compound in
central Jakarta was announced well in advance through the local media
and yielded little more than some old tools and kitchenware. A few
months later, Mr. Hutomo was briefly apprehended in East Java, only to
slip out the window of the police station when his guard left the room
to make a phone call to Jakarta.
Write to Timothy Mapes at timothy.mapes@awsj.com and Puspa Madani
puspa.madani@awsj.com