Harman Patil (Editor)

Corruption charges against Suharto

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Investigation on charges of corruption against Indonesian second president Suharto mainly focused on corruption he was made during his 32-years rule. In Global Transparency Report made by Transparency International in 2004, he was ranked first on the most corrupt leader, causing loss of 15-25 million US$ of state fund.

Contents

Suharto headed several organisations that continuously established during his rule, with various functions those foundations had, including to provide educational, health, and support for veterans fought in Trikora. All of those organisations suspected to receiving money that was embezzled from state funds.

History

After the fall of Suharto, calls for arrest of Suharto after corruption charges emerged. People's Consultative Assembly decree no. XI/1998 declares that any attempts on eradicating corruption must be done thoroughly, including against president Suharto that was mentioned explicitly.

Despite of ongoing investigation on alleged corruption case, in 2006 Attorney-general Abdul Rachman Saleh said that he had authorized the issuance of "Termination of Criminal Persecution Decree" (Surat Keputusan Penghentian Penuntutan Pidana, SKP3), which suspends all attempt to persecute Suharto on ground that his physical and mental health unfit to attend court session. The decision was overturned by South Jakarta state court under grounds that physical and mental fitness wasn't a valid reason to suspend persecution. Revocation on the decree allowed the process to persecute Suharto to continue.

Suharto's death in January 2008 doesn't stop the investigation of the corruption case, with his children replaced him as defendant on his corruption case just shortly before his death.

Supersemar

Established by Suharto in 1974, this organisation providing scholarships for Indonesian students. Income of this foundation was mainly from state-owned banks, with Decree no. 15/1976 legitimizes state-owned banks income to be deposited to Supersemar Foundation.

In 2015, Supersemar Foundation was founded guilty after several failed attempt on cassations in 2015, which forced the organisation to pay 4.4. trillion rupiah.

The foundation had their income of 420 million US$ and 185 billion rupiah, which was initially arranged for scholarships but instead was delivered among Soeharto and his crony companies. 420 million US$ was distributed to Bank Duta, 13 billion rupiah to Sempati Air, and the rest was to other companies and cooperatives.

Dana Sejahtera Mandiri

In 1995, Suharto issued presidential decree no. 90 which recommends all taxpayers with income above 100 million rupiah to "donate" 2% of their income to this organisation. This decree was revised by decree no. 92/1996, which makes the donation compulsory. The decree legitimate losses of 1,4 trillion rupiah that was distributed among Suharto families, with 112 billion rupiah distributed to his son's bank.

Trikora

The foundation was formed to support sons and daughters of Trikora veterans who lost their lives. In year 2000, Indonesian attorney general had accused this organisation to contribute to losses of 7 billion rupiah which was allocated to unrelated affairs of the organisation.

References

Corruption charges against Suharto Wikipedia