Jakarta – Two witnesses at the corruption trial of a son of former president Suharto on Monday retracted statements that a company he controlled had caused millions of dollars of losses to the state.

The two witnesses were one active and one retired official from the National Logistic Agency (Bulog), which prosecutors say suffered some 11.2 million dollars in losses in a land-swap scam.

The court is trying Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, Suharto's youngest son, over his alleged involvement in a land-swap deal involving his company PT Goro Batara Sakti and Bulog.

"At the time I made my deposition [to the police], I had not yet studied the landswap deal," Yacob Isak, who heads Bulog's equipment bureau, told the South Jakarta court hearing the case.

Isak said that after he had studied the case, he came to the conclusion that "Bulog has not been directly disadvantaged."

He said the process of the taking over of Bulog assets under the deal had yet to be completed.

The other witness, Suhadi retracted his earlier statement to the police that Bulog had suffered losses, partly incurred by rent for warehouses for the first year, pending the completion of permanent warehouses to be build by Goro.

Under the deal, Goro should have paid for the rent, but Bulog had paid for the first year of rent, Suhadi said.

"Goro has paid back the 8.7 billion rupiah for the rent of the warehouses," Suhadi said, backing up his aboutface that Bulog had not suffered losses in the deal.

However, he admitted to the court that the payment for the 1996 rent of the warehouses had been made only after the case came to court.

Several witnesses in past sessions have also recanted on earlier testimony that said Bulog lost heavily on the deal.

Hutomo, with the former head of the Bulog, Beddu Amang, and businessman Ricardo Gelael, have been accused of violating a 1971 corruption law by "trying to enrich themselves while directly or indirectly causing losses to the state finances or economy."

The defendants have been accused of causing the state to lose 95.4 billion rupiah (11.2 million dollars) in the land exchange deal between 1995 and 1998.

The prosecution has argued that Bulog was never fully reimbursed for the land and that Goro borrowed money to buy the land, using Bulog money as collateral, and never repaid it.

When they money was not paid by Goro, the bank seized Bulog's deposit of 20 billion rupiah, it said.

Hutomo is the first member of the Suharto family to be brought to trial on corruption charges since the former president stood down last May.

Indonesian authorities are investigating allegations that Suharto and his family amassed a fortune during the former president's 32 years of rule.

The judge said that they were adjourning the hearing until after the elections, saying that the police had told them they would not have enough men to assure security during the trial. The trial will resume on June 9.