Jakarta – Indonesia's government has confiscated millions of dollars of reforestation funds from firms associated with former President Suharto, a senior minister said yesterday. Forestry and Plantations Minister Muslimin Nasution said the funds were retrieved after an investigation into the way the previous administration had re-routed money into Suharto-linked firms.

He said a probe failed to find incidents of diversion of funds, and "we have already been able to retrieve and suspend the ones that were not yet used".

There has been mounting pressure for the government to investigate the wealth of Mr Suharto and his family, who have been accused of enriching themselves during his 32-year rule. Mr Nasution said among the funds retrieved was 80 billion rupiah (S$10 million) in credit awarded to Mr Suharto's grandson, Mr Ari Sigit, for a fertilising project.

A 200-billion rupiah reforestation fund that was to be awarded to a firm owned by timber tycoon Muhammad "Bob" Hasan, Mr Suharto's golfing buddy, had also been withheld.

[According to a June 25 report by Reuters, Indonesia and the IMF have agreed on internationally accepted audits of the financial accounts of the state oil firm, Pertamina, the electricity utility, PLN and state commodities regulator, Bulog - James Balowski.]