A LAWYER for Tommy Suharto urged the government yesterday to stop seeking a freeze on an overseas bank account belonging to the son of the late Indonesian president, reports said.
A court in the British dependency of Guernsey on Friday cleared Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra Suharto of government allegations he was involved in corruption, news website Detikcom reported.
A freeze on the 36 million euros ($70 million) in Tommy's Banque Nationale de Paris (BNP) Paribas account was subsequently lifted, it added.
However, the Attorney General's Office in Indonesia said it would use "all legal means" to ensure the assets remained frozen, Tempo website reported.
"I see that the government's allegations have all been crushed by the judge," lawyer Otto Cornelius Kaligis was quoted as saying.
"What other evidence do they (the government) need? I am afraid it is a waste of people's money," Kaligis said.
Jakarta in May 2008 launched a civil corruption suit against the late dictator's reputed favourite son.
It alleged he misappropriated more than US$400 million ($597 million ) while running a business that imported South Korean cars and changed their labels to make them appear as if they were made in Indonesia.
Prosecutors alleged Tommy avoided repaying a state loan to his car company PT Timor by illegally selling company assets to another one of his companies during the Asian financial crisis.
An Indonesian court in February rejected a separate corruption case against Tommy, awarding him US$550,000 dollars in a countersuit.
One of six children, Tommy served just a third of a 15-year jail term for ordering the murder of a Supreme Court judge in July 2002. He was released in October 2006.
His high-rolling career did not survive the collapse of his father's dictatorship in 1998.
Suharto died aged 86 in January, having never been brought to trial over persistent allegations of graft involving billions of dollars during his 32-year rule.
