Jakarta – Former president Suharto's youngest son, Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, was slapped under city arrest for 20 days Friday pending trial for his alleged involvement in a multi-million dollar land scam.

Announcing the order Attorney General Andi Ghalib said Hutomo would have to report to his office twice a week, on Mondays and Thursdays, the private ANteve television station reported.

ANteve said the order was given as the case would soon be referred to the courts, while Ghalib said the move to confine him to the city was evidence that everybody is equal before the law.

"Anyone is subject to legal consequences. This a country based on law," he told journalists after Hutomo appeared at his office. "If other suspects have been put under city arrest, why not him," Ghalib was quoted by the state Antara news agency as saying.

The head of the Jakarta High Prosecutor Syahmardan Lubis was quoted by Antara as saying the restriction would allow the court to convene at any time. "If they want to leave Jakarta, they will have to ask permission from [the] Jakarta High Prosecutor," Lubis said.

Other suspects in the case, the former chairman of the National Logistics Agency (Bulog) Beddu Amang and businessman Ricardo Gelael, had previously been put under city arrest.

Hutomo was officially declared a suspect and questioned in November over the scam, revolving around a 1997 real estate swap deal involving Bulog and a private company, Goro.

The deal allowed Goro, 40 percent owned by Hutomo and Ricardo Gelael, to build a retail centre on a large Bulog tract of land in an affluent residential area in North Jakarta.

But Goro failed to keep its side of the bargain and give some 63 hectares of land to the logistics agency, which resulted in an estimated loss of 52.5 billion rupiah (seven million dollars) to Bulog. A travel ban has already been imposed on Hutomo and Gelael.