Soeharto clan's past abuses emerge

The involvement of the Soeharto family in the country's arms procurement business only started in the early 1990s. Nevertheless, in a short time, their reach had quickly spread to various quarters of the military.

In 1993, Soeharto's eldest daughter Siti Hardiyanti "Tutut" Rukmana, under PT Bheering Diant Pramata "helped" procure eight British Hawk-100s for training and 16 Hawk-200 jet fighters with a total contract value of $690 million.

In 1994 the TNI came under fire when it bought 39 used ships from Germany for a reported US$1.1 billion compared to the actual market price of only $12 million.

In 1995, Tutut acted as an agent to procure 16 Air Force jets, including 12 Hawk-100s, amounting to $540 million.

The jet's original price was $8 million each but had allegedly been marked up to $30 million each giving her a handsome "profit" of over $350 million for a single transaction.

Tutut's other brokering agency PT Surya Kepanjen won a procuring contract for 50 Army scorpion tanks with a price tag of $2.5 million each. Singapore bought exactly the same type of tank at the same time for only $1 million each -- another $75 million extracted from the state coffers.

Tutut's sister Siti Hutami "Mamiek" Endang Adiningsih and brother Bambang Trihatmodjo also acted as contractors for the Air Force.

Mamiek's company PT Dwipangga Sakti Prima was appointed to procure a simulator for a Hercules carrier in 1996 with at a price of $30 million. The real price was reportedly not more than $25 million. -- JP