Jakarta – Time magazine insisted Thursday it was standing by its story that former president Suharto and his family amassed a 15-billion dollar fortune during his three decades in power.
Time lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis said the US publication would fight any action by Suharto as the former strongman's youngest daughter was quizzed by the attorney general's office over the accusations.
"Time sticks to its position to stand behind its May 24 report," the magazine's lawyer, Lubis said. Lubis denied reports that Time had offered to settle out of court with Suharto. The former Indonesian leader filed a criminal defamation suit against the magazine on Wednesday.
"There's been no offer for settlement and Time is ready to face the lawsuit filed by Suharto. That's the most important thing," Lubis told a press conference.
Suharto's youngest daughter, Siti Hutami "Mamiek" Endang Adiningsih, 34, was questioned at the attorney general's office over her family's wealth.
Mamiek was the fifth of Suharto's six children – all of whom have vast business interests – to be summoned for questioning since Time alleged the family was sitting on 15 billion dollars accumulated during Suharto's 32 years in power.
Time estimated Mamiek's fortune at 30 million dollars, with stakes in several of her siblings' companies and interests. She and her lawyers made no comment to the press as they entered the building.
Lubis questioned Suharto's motive in pressing charges, saying more than a dozen other foreign and domestic publications had run extensive stories on the wealth of the former first family.
He said Suharto had given no specific indications on which part of the report was untrue. Suharto's lawyer Juan Felix Tampubolon told AFP Wednesday however that the action would be over an allegation that the former strongman had stashed nine billion dollars in an overseas bank account.
Time alleged that Suharto had transfered nine billion dollars from a Swiss bank into an unidentified Austrian bank account shortly after his resignation in May last year.
Such nominee accounts, Lubis said, were often used to launder money, but it would be "practically impossible" to trace whether there was still money in the account.
"The issue at hand is whether there was a transfer. Time magazine stands by the fact that the transfer existed and had been carried out," he added.
Lubis said the onus on Time is to prove only that the transfer took place, not to show evidence of the destination account. "We will face this charge in court," Lubis said.
He also stressed that Indonesian press laws lay the responsibility for any reports on the chief editor of a publication, which he said raised questions on why the suit was not filed abroad.
According to the press laws the case should have been filed in Hong Kong, where the May 24 issue of Time Asia was published, or at the headquarters of Time International in New York, he said.
"Time Asia editor is Donald Morrison, and Time's editor-in-chief is Norman Pearlstine. These two people are the ones responsible for the report under Indonesian laws. So, I have to say that all these legal efforts are not serious."
Amien Rais, a leading presidential contender who heads the National Mandate Party, echoed Lubis, saying Suharto should have lodged the report in New York. "To report the matter in your own country, what does that achieve? The logic is twisted."
[Suharto filed the criminal defamation suit against Time on June 2 saying that "I deem that the report by the Time magazine is false, it is an action that runs against the law, an insult and a defamation in writing that can also possibly be categorized as slander... Therefore, there is no other way for me but to go through legal channels". Suharto also reiterated that he does not have any overseas accounts or shares - James Balowski.]