Soeharto sons' Bali businesses probed

DENPASAR, Bali (JP): The family of former president Soeharto owns hundreds of hectares of land in Bali and also controls companies mainly involved in the tourism sector, an official at Bali's prosecutor office said last week.

Gusti Ngurah Santosa, assistant for special crimes at the provincial prosecutor office, said Soeharto's youngest son, Hutomo Mandala Putra, possessed more than 1.3 million square meters of land in three regencies, most of it in Pecatu Village, while Bambang Trihatmodjo controlled more than 700,000 square meters on Serangan island and Siti Hediati Prabowo owned 70,000 square meters.

Activists claim that the former first family acquired the land illegally, despite Gusti's stating the contrary.

"We doubt the prosecutor's methods of probing the issue," said Wayan Rindha, a member of the province's fact-finding team on corruption, collusion and nepotism. The family also controls more than nine million square meters of land in West Nusa Tenggara.

Following the government's launch of an investigation into Soeharto's wealth, State Minister of Agrarian Affairs Hasan Basri Durin instructed provincial branches of the National Land Agency (BPN), to make an inventory of the former first family's property.

BPN has also discovered the former first family owns dozens of hectares in all regencies in Yogyakarta except Gunungkidul.

The head of the Yogyakarta BPN office, Soeprapto Hadimoeljono, disclosed Tuesday that, according to the most recent records, the plots were owned by Soeharto's late wife Tien Soeharto, his half- brothers Probosutedjo and Noto Soewito and his cousin, tycoon Soedwikatmono.

Soewito, a subdistrict head in Bantul regency, was the largest local land owner among Soeharto's relatives, Soeprapto said.

He said there were other plots owned by the Soeharto- controlled Purna Bhakti Pertiwi foundation.

The head of the Jambi BPN office, Ramli Yusuf, refused to reveal any of his office's findings, saying they were confidential.

"It is not because I do not want to disclose them... but the results must be sent to the minister," Ramli told Antara on Tuesday. (28/swa/prb)