Investigations into allegations of corruption against

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Gui ...

dictator A dictator is a political leader who possesses absolute power. A dictatorship is a state ruled by one dictator or by a small clique. The word originated as the title of a Roman dictator elected by the Roman Senate to rule the republic in time ...

Suharto Suharto (; ; 8 June 1921 – 27 January 2008) was an Indonesian army officer and politician, who served as the second and the longest serving president of Indonesia. Widely regarded as a military dictator by international observers, Suharto l ...

began immediately after his 32-year rule. In ''Global Transparency Report,'' made by

Transparency International Transparency International e.V. (TI) is a German registered association founded in 1993 by former employees of the World Bank. Based in Berlin, its nonprofit and non-governmental purpose is to take action to combat global corruption with civil ...

in 2004, he was ranked as the world’s most corrupt leader. The report accused Suharto of causing losses of US$15–35 billion for the Indonesian government. Suharto headed several organizations during his rule, with various functions, including to provide educational,

health Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organ ...

, and give support for

veteran A veteran () is a person who has significant experience (and is usually adept and esteemed) and expertise in a particular occupation or field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in a military. A military veteran that h ...

s of Trikora. All of these organizations were suspected of receiving illicit funds, which was embezzled from the state.

History

After the

fall of Suharto Suharto resigned as President of Indonesia on 21 May 1998 following the collapse of support for his 32-year long presidency. Vice President B. J. Habibie took over the presidency. Suharto's grip on power weakened following severe economic and ...

, calls for his arrest, on the basis of corruption, emerged.

People's Consultative Assembly The People's Consultative Assembly of the Republic of Indonesia ( id, Majelis Permusyawaratan Rakyat Republik Indonesia, MPR-RI) is the legislative branch in Indonesia's political system. It is composed of the members of the People's Rep ...

decree no. XI/1998 declared that attempts to eradicate corruption must include investigations into Suharto. Despite of ongoing investigations into alleged corruption, in 2006

attorney general In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

Abdul Rachman Saleh declared the issuance of the "Termination of Criminal Persecution Decree" ''(Surat Keputusan Penghentian Penuntutan Pidana, SKP3).'' The decree suspended all attempts to prosecute Suharto because he was medically unfit to stand trial. This decision was overturned by a

South Jakarta South Jakarta ( id, Jakarta Selatan; bew, Jakarte Beludik ), colloquially known as ''Jaksel'', is one of the five administrative cities which form the Special Capital Region of Jakarta, Indonesia. South Jakarta is not self-governed and does not ...

state court, on the grounds that physical and mental decline aren’t valid reasons to suspend prosecution. The revocation of the decree allowed investigations into Suharto to proceed. Suharto's death on 27 January 2008 failed to stop the corruption case. Suharto’s children replaced him as the defendants of the case, shortly before his death.

Allegations and convictions

Supersemar

Established by Suharto in 1974, Supersemar provided

scholarships A scholarship is a form of financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, diversity and inclusion, athletic skill, and financial need. Scholarsh ...

for Indonesian students. Supersemar’s income was mainly from state-owned banks, with Decree no. 15/1976 allowing state-owned banks to deposit income into Supersemar. In 2015, the Supersemar Foundation was convicted, after several failed attempts to suspend prosecution. This conviction forced the organization to pay Rp4.4 trillion in damages to the state.Babak baru, keluarga mantan presiden Soeharto dihukum 4,4 triliun
/ref> The foundation had incomes of Rp185 billion embezzled, instead being delivered to Suharto and co-conspirators. US$420 million was distributed to Bank Duta, Rp13 billion to

Sempati Air Sempati Air was an airline based in Indonesia. Partially owned by friends and family of President Suharto of Indonesia, the airline ceased operations due to bankruptcy after its owner Suharto's May 1998 presidential resignation. Its IATA code has s ...

, and the rest went to other companies and cooperatives.Catatan dana Yayasan Supersemar yang Diselewengkan
(in Indonesian),

CNN Indonesia Cable News Network Indonesia (known as CNN Indonesia and abbreviated as CNN ID) is a 24-hour Indonesian free-to-air television news channel owned by Trans Media in collaboration with Warner Bros. Discovery under CNN license. Broadcasting fro ...

, 2015-08-13

Dana Sejahtera Mandiri

In 1995, Suharto issued presidential decree no. 90 which recommended for all

taxpayer A taxpayer is a person or organization (such as a company) subject to pay a tax. Modern taxpayers may have an identification number, a reference number issued by a government to citizens or firms. The term "taxpayer" generally characterizes o ...

s with incomes above Rp100 million to donate 2% of their income to the Dana Sejahtera Mandiri. This decree was revised by decree no. 92/1996, which made the donation compulsory. The decree caused losses of Rp1.4 trillion for taxpayers, which was distributed among Suharto’s family. Rp112 billion was distributed to the son of Suharto’s bank.

Trikora

Suharto established a foundation to support the families of Trikora veterans. In 2000, the Indonesian

accused the organization of stealing Rp7 billion, which was redirected for other operations.

References