'No Soeharto land in SE Sulawesi'

KENDARI, Southeast Sulawesi: The provincial office of the National Land Agency has come up empty-handed in its search for land belonging to former president Soeharto, Antara reported on Friday.

"We have (searched) for two weeks but found no plots of land registered under Soeharto's name," said Soekartono, chief of the office. "We will now stop the searching but we remain open to new information on the matter."

He said Jakarta headquarters and Governor La Ode Kaimuddin both ordered his office to find out whether Soeharto had any land in the province.

The National Land Agency has discovered nine million square meters of land belonging to Soeharto's children Siti "Tutut" Hardijanti Rukmana and Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra in West Nusa Tenggara.

Agency chief Hasan Basri Durin acknowledged a vast amount of property belonging to Soeharto's family although registered under company names. He said all the plots were obtained lawfully. (rms)