Tomy sues 'Tempo' for Rp 120b

JAKARTA: Businessman Tomy Winata filed on Thursday his lawsuit over alleged libel against Tempo journalist Ahmad Taufik and media company PT Tempo Inti Media, demanding a total of Rp 120 billion (US$14.6 million) in compensation.

Tomy's legal team filed the civil lawsuit at the Central Jakarta District Court. The lawsuit is based on Taufik's statement on the chronology of the attack on Tempo's office and journalists, which took place on March 8. Taufik closed his statement by saying that Tomy owned entertainment spots and gambling dens.

The statement was widely distributed over the Internet and was run by news portal Detikcom on March 12.

Tomy's legal team said that the statement had inflicted losses on their client as many of Tomy's partners had canceled their business deals with him.

The lawyers demanded that Taufik and PT Tempo pay Rp 40 billion in compensation for material losses and an additional Rp 80 billion in nonmaterial losses. They also asked that the court confiscate PT Tempo's and printing company PT Temprint's assets as collateral.

Finally, they demanded that Taufik publish an apology to Tomy in a number of dailies and weeklies for three consecutive days and to air the apology on all television stations for seven days. -- JP