The government have won in a civil case against Hutomo “Tommy” Mandala Putra and will seize Rp 1.22 trillion ($135 million) in assets belonging to his defunct carmaker, PT Timor Putra Nasional.
The Supreme Court on Thursday overturned a decision it made two years ago and sided with the government in a civil case against Hutomo “Tommy” Mandala Putra to seize Rp 1.22 trillion ($135 million) in assets belonging to his defunct carmaker, PT Timor Putra Nasional.
Supreme Court spokesman Nurhadi revealed that the court had reviewed the case and ruled in favor of the Finance Ministry after it had presented two fresh pieces of evidence.
Thursday’s “decision overruled previous rulings by the Supreme Court all the way [back] to the district court,” Nurhadi said. “There will be no more suits or appeals.”
The ruling supercedes its decision in 2008 that the assets, which the government had seized from state-owned PT Bank Mandiri, should be returned to Tommy along with interest.
Tommy, the youngest son of the late President Suharto, had established TPN in 1995 to build an Indonesian national car. Instead, he imported South Korean-made vehicles and sold them under his label.
The legal wrangling began when TPN failed replay loans of Rp 4.05 trillion from state-owned Bank Dagang Negara and Bank Bumi Daya in the wake of the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis. The two lenders, along with several others, were later merged to become Bank Mandiri.
In 2003, TPN’s assets were taken over by the now-defunct Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency, which managed assets taken from companies that collapsed during the crisis.
IBRA sold TPN’s assets to a little-known company called PT Vista Bella Pratama for Rp 444 billion, not knowing that Vista Bella was also owned by Tommy.
Prosecutors argued in 2008 that the deal was illegal as Tommy controlled both TPN and Vista Bella, and filed a lawsuit demanding that he and the companies pay back the difference.
Vista Bella and the government settled the case out of court and it was agreed that the government would take over all of TPN’s assets, including its Rp 4.05 trillion debt.
The Supreme Court spokesman said that the settlement between Vista Bella and the government had been the basis for the court to overrule its earlier decision. “Vista Bella had agreed that all of TPN’s assets belong to the government. So automatically the assets in Bank Mandiri also belong to the government,” Nurhadi said.
The Finance Ministry’s other piece of fresh evidence was a letter from Tommy and TPN’s former board of directors guaranteeing repayment to the state.
Tommy’s lawyers did not respond to requests for comment on Thursday.
Teten Masduki, secretary general of Transparency International Indonesia hailed Thursday’s ruling.
“Tommy had many times controversially escaped the law. This is a real milestone,” he said.
In 2008, the Attorney General’s Office dropped an embezzlement case involving the Clove Marketing and Buffer Agency (BPPC), also founded by Tommy, on the grounds that he had already repaid all losses incurred by the state in connection with the agency.
Tommy was accused of misusing the funds after the BPPC was disbanded after widespread complaints that it engaged in corrupt and monopolistic practices.
Tommy, 46, was freed from prison in October 2006 after serving five years of a 15-year sentence for ordering the murder of a Supreme Court judge who had convicted him of corruption.
The Supreme Court on Thursday overturned a decision it made two years ago and sided with the government in a civil case against Hutomo “Tommy” Mandala Putra to seize Rp 1.22 trillion ($135 million) in assets belonging to his defunct carmaker, PT Timor Putra Nasional.
Supreme Court spokesman Nurhadi revealed that the court had reviewed the case and ruled in favor of the Finance Ministry after it had presented two fresh pieces of evidence.
Thursday’s “decision overruled previous rulings by the Supreme Court all the way [back] to the district court,” Nurhadi said. “There will be no more suits or appeals.”
The ruling supercedes its decision in 2008 that the assets, which the government had seized from state-owned PT Bank Mandiri, should be returned to Tommy along with interest.
Tommy, the youngest son of the late President Suharto, had established TPN in 1995 to build an Indonesian national car. Instead, he imported South Korean-made vehicles and sold them under his label.
The legal wrangling began when TPN failed replay loans of Rp 4.05 trillion from state-owned Bank Dagang Negara and Bank Bumi Daya in the wake of the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis. The two lenders, along with several others, were later merged to become Bank Mandiri.
In 2003, TPN’s assets were taken over by the now-defunct Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency, which managed assets taken from companies that collapsed during the crisis.
IBRA sold TPN’s assets to a little-known company called PT Vista Bella Pratama for Rp 444 billion, not knowing that Vista Bella was also owned by Tommy.
Prosecutors argued in 2008 that the deal was illegal as Tommy controlled both TPN and Vista Bella, and filed a lawsuit demanding that he and the companies pay back the difference.
Vista Bella and the government settled the case out of court and it was agreed that the government would take over all of TPN’s assets, including its Rp 4.05 trillion debt.
The Supreme Court spokesman said that the settlement between Vista Bella and the government had been the basis for the court to overrule its earlier decision. “Vista Bella had agreed that all of TPN’s assets belong to the government. So automatically the assets in Bank Mandiri also belong to the government,” Nurhadi said.
The Finance Ministry’s other piece of fresh evidence was a letter from Tommy and TPN’s former board of directors guaranteeing repayment to the state.
Tommy’s lawyers did not respond to requests for comment on Thursday.
Teten Masduki, secretary general of Transparency International Indonesia hailed Thursday’s ruling.
“Tommy had many times controversially escaped the law. This is a real milestone,” he said.
In 2008, the Attorney General’s Office dropped an embezzlement case involving the Clove Marketing and Buffer Agency (BPPC), also founded by Tommy, on the grounds that he had already repaid all losses incurred by the state in connection with the agency.
Tommy was accused of misusing the funds after the BPPC was disbanded after widespread complaints that it engaged in corrupt and monopolistic practices.
Tommy, 46, was freed from prison in October 2006 after serving five years of a 15-year sentence for ordering the murder of a Supreme Court judge who had convicted him of corruption.
