Villareal reports newspaper

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.