TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Attorney General Basrief Arief said that the Supersemar fines will be billed to the heirs of former president Suharto. According to him, in the ruling of a civil suit filed by the government, the obligation will not only be burdened to the once glorious foundation.
"There are two parties, namely the late Soeharto himself and the entire foundation," said Basrief Wednesday, July 24. He explained that the foundation includes all parties whose names are listed in the deed of the Supersemar Foundation board.
In case of the government versus Supersemar and Soeharto, the Supreme Court ruled and decided that the defendant must pay a fine of US$315 million (about Rp3.1 trillion) and Rp 139 million. But there was a mistype. The amount of the fine, which was supposed to be Rp139.2 billion, was written as Rp 139.2 million.
Because of this typo, the AGO will file a judicial review.
Supersemar official Nasaruddin Umar said that the foundation's asset value at the moment is not enough to pay the fine. "Our assets currently amount to less than Rp1 trillion," Nasaruddin said on Wednesday. He said that the foundation has had no additional assets since its founder--former President Soeharto--passed away.
Soeharto's family has not responded. However, Supersemar's lawyer OC Kaligis said that the Soeharto family and the foundation may not pay the fine. He said that it is inappropriate to question the foundation's ability to pay the fine because the money that Supersemar manages is legal money.
"This is the foundation's money, it did not come from the state funds," he said yesterday.
Kaligis said he is ready to face the AGO's plan for a judicial review. He is confident that the AGO may not win in the case.
The Supersemar Foundation was established by Suharto, with the goal of helping underprivileged smart students to continue their education. The foundation sourced fund from state-owned banks. These banks set aside five percent of their profits, and transferred them into the foundation's account. Due to the misuse of funds by the foundation’s managers, the state suffered a total loss of Rp10 trillion (approx. $972 million), calculated based on the number of students who lost their chance to continue their education.
SUBKHAN | ALI AKHMAD NOOR HIDAYAT | TRI ARTINING PUTRI | SUKMA