Villareal reports newspaper

Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

American lobbyist Michael A. Villareal filed a police report against The Asian Wall Street Journal on Friday, claiming the daily defamed him in a story that appeared in its April 5 edition.

Villareal filed the complaint against managing editor Peter Stein, editor Reginald Chua and reporters Peter Fritsch and Timothy Mapes.

Villareal's lawyer, Hotman Paris Hutapea, said the newspaper wrote an article calling his client an armed robber based solely on an e-mail the daily received from Villarreal's former wife, Lousia Ibbotson.

"The fact is that my client has never been found guilty by any court. The newspaper should have checked the court records instead of relying solely on an e-mail sent by a brokenhearted woman before printing the story," he said.

In its April 5 edition, the Journal wrote that in 1989 Villarreal "ran afoul of the law when he was arrested in Panama City, Florida, and charged with armed robbery. He was sentenced to probation and community service tutoring kids at Camp David Gonzalez, a detention center in Calabasas, California".

Hotman said his client did receive a sentence from the court, but for a different case.

"He was only found guilty because he did not report a crime committed by his friend," he said.

Villareal also filed police complaints against his ex-wife and his former employer, Harvey Goldstein, the owner of PT Harvest International Indonesia, for passing false information to the newspaper.

Hotman said Villareal sent a warning letter to the newspaper asking for Rp 100 billion in compensation.

Villareal made headlines here after he was connected with a bribery case involving U.S. agricultural giant Monsanto, and after he left his then-pregnant wife and became engaged to actress Sophia Latjuba.