The south Jakarta district court on Monday failed to conduct its first session of trial on the youngest son of former president Soeharto, Hutomo Mandala Putra in a land-exchange scheme case that cause the state suffering tens million U.S. dollars financial loss, due to the absence of a defendant.
Presiding judge named only Haswandi said that the session was postponed to next month and the judge would summon defendant from Goro Bathara Sakti Inc., which had implicated in the scheme from 1995 to 1998 with the State Logistic Agency (Bulog).
"We adjourn the trial up to October first at eleven a.m.,"said Haswandi.
The judge said that the agenda of the failed session on Monday was a mediation between the state prosecutors and the four defendants, including Hutomo Mandala Putra known as Tommy Soeharto, who was a commissioner of the company, the director of the company Richardo Gelael and the former head of the logistic agency Beddu Amang.
Lawyer of Tommy Soeharto Elsa Syarif said that the claim was made up and she want to seek for a mediation.
"This is a nonsense claim, nonsense. We must take a mediation," she told reporters outside the court.
The lawyer said that if mediation could be achieved, a counter claim would not be taken.
A prosecutor Yosep Suardi Sabda said that the state demanded more than 500 millions rupiah (some 50 million U.S. dollars).
Tommy was sentenced to 18 months in jail in 2000 for his connection with the scheme. He was freed last year after serving only 15 months.
He was also found guilty of ordering the murder of the judge who had convicted him.
Tommy has also separately named as suspect in a criminal case involving state monopoly on clove trade.
Soeharto's family and associates have been allegedly implicated on corruption that cause state loss billion of U.S. dollars through state during his 32-year rules.
Recently, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has appointed a new attorney-general to instigate his campaign against the rampant corruption in the country.
Source: Xinhua
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