GOVT-TOMMY'S LEGAL BATTLE OVER MONEY AT BANK PARIBAS

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, March 25 (ANTARA)- The Indonesian government and a former ruler's son, Hutomo Mandala Putra, more popularly known as Tommy Soeharto, are fighting for a legal battle at Guernsey court in England, over a deposit of Rp630 billion at Bank Paribas.

        Various quarters in Indonesia, including the House of Representatives and the Attorney General's Office, are focusing attention on the money, suspected to have come from Tommy's illegal business operations in Indonesia, and stashed at the bank as part of money laundering.

        The cacophonous part of the affair was the unraveling of the facts that besides the Rp630 billion now being fought for at the court, Tommy still managed withdraw US$10 million from a London branch of Bank Paribas with alleged implications of two Indonesian cabinet ministers.

        Suspicion arose as the money was transferred to a Justice and Human Rights' bank account at a BNI branch in South Jakarta. Reportedly the money was transferred to the ministry's account under a ruling of British law.

        "The government must soon clarify the money, whether or not it is legally owned by Tommy, or Tommy could have withdrawn it because 'something' had made the transfer possible," House Speaker Agung Laksono said recently.

        How did all this begin? According to a report by Tempo magazine early this week, Tommy, through his companies -- Garnet Investment Ltd and PT Motorbike -- deposited funds in two branches of the Banque Nationale de Paris (BNP) Paribas, a famous private European bank based in Paris, France.

        Garnet Ltd, which is based the British Virgin Islands, deposited the funds in Bank Paribas' Guernsey branch, while Motorbike, which is registered in the Bahamas, one of the Caribbean islands, deposited its funds in the London branch.

        The deposits were quite significant. About Rp630 billion is in the Guernsey branch while over US$10 million was deposited in the London branch.

        However, Paribas later froze the two accounts at the request of the Financial Intelligence Service (FIS), a financial monitoring body based in the United Kingdom. The FIS suspected that the funds came from Tommy's illegal business operations in Indonesia.

        According to 'Tempo', when Tommy tried to withdraw the funds from the London branch, Paribas refused to release the money. The bank suspected the funds were part of money laundering.

        Paribas set a condition: the money can be released at verification from the Indonesian government. The verification should say that Motorbike and its owners had nothing to do with money laundering.

        Tommy asked for assistance of the Justice and Human Rights Ministry, which at that time was headed by Yusril Ihza Mahendra. Tommy was able to secure the verification.

        It was reported that the verification was issued after the Justice and Human Rights Ministry received a confidential letter from the state Financial Transactions, Reporting and Analysis Center (PPATK) which said it did not find any suspicious financial transactions involving Tommy's in its data base.

        Finally, Tommy succeeded in withdrawing the money from the London branch of Paribas, amounting to US$10 million and transferred to the Justice and Human Rights' bank account at a BNI branch in South Jakarta in June 2005.

        At that time, Hamid Awaludin had been appointed minister for justice and human rights, while Yusril named minister/state secretary. Acting as broker for the funds' disbursement was the Ihza & Ihza law firm owned by Yusril.

        However, Tommy's attempt to withdraw the money from the other BNP Paribas branch, namely the Guernsey branch of Bank Paribas, were denied.

        Because he failed to withdraw the Rp630 billion, Tommy filed a law suit against Paribas in the British Guernsey court for he claimed the bank had refused to disburse his money.

        As the case is taken to court, the Indonesian government is intervening in the case if to a certain extent it involved illegal money.

        "The Attorney General's Office is intervening in the case because it is being taken to the Guernsey court," Attorney General Abdul Rahman Saleh said.

        Saleh said he would follow the developments of the case, because Hamid Awaluddin and Yusril Ihza Mahendra believed that the withdrawal of the US$10 million from Bank Paribas, London, was legal.

        He said the disbursement of the US$10 million from Paribas, London, would not affect his office's intervention in the Guernsey case.

        "The question now arises why did'nt the bank tell the Indonesian embassy when it disbursed the money from the London branch," Saleh said.

        As to the US$10 million which has been transferred from London, House Speaker Agung Laksono said the government had to clarify it soon as its disbursement was linked to two cabinet ministers.

        He said that the money should be returned to the state if it turned out that Tommy obtained the money illegally.

        "But we cannot make a judgment before the government clarifies it openly to the public. If he got the money illegally, it should be confiscated and be returned to the state but the government should not arbitrarily do this if he had earned it lawfully," he said.

        The House Speaker had suggested the government to openly clarify the money to the public so that it would not spark controversies and tarnish the image of the government in its efforts to crack down on corruption.

        Andi Mattalatta, chairman of the Golkar Party faction in the House urged the Police Chief, the Attorney General and the PPATK to investigate the transfer of Tommy's money from BNP Paribas to the ministry's account.

        He said the law enforcing agencies needed to take immediate steps so that the matter would not backfire on the government which is currently stepping up its anti-corruption drive.

        Meanwhile, House of Representatives Deputy Speaker Soetardjo Soerjoguritno said if the transfer of the US$10 million to the account of the Law and Human Rights Ministry proves to be illegal, they should be confiscated by the state.

        But the 'Tempo' report said that the US$10 million only stayed two days in the bank account of the Justice and Human Rights Ministry before it was diverted to various other places.

        While the US$10 billion at the London branch has gone before its legal status is made clear, the government is now anxiously waiting to see in whose favor the Guernsey court would issue a ruling with regard to the other Rp630 billion at Bank Paribas' Guernsey branch. (A014/A/HNG/B003). (T.A014/A/A014/B003) 26-03-2007 00:44:13