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	Indonesia hunts for Soeharto stolen wealth by AFP & agencies Indonesia   August 2007   Hundreds of millions of dollars intended to educate impoverished children were stolen by former president Soeharto and should be repaid, according to an Indonesian Government lawsuit.   The civil case, which began in Jakarta yesterday, is seeking $A1.8 billion in losses and punitive damages. Judges said both parties must agree on a settlement within a month or face a full trial.   Mr Soeharto has escaped criminal prosecution for graft since his resignation in 1998 by claiming ill health. The new case is the first substantive effort to recover the billions siphoned off by the Soeharto family during his 32-year rule.   The lawsuit alleges more than $500 million of public funds was channelled through state-owned banks to the Supersemar Foundation, headed by Mr Soeharto.   The funds were to subsidise the education of poor Indonesians, but were instead diverted to companies controlled by Mr Soeharto"s business associates and children.   Millions went to companies controlled by son "Tommy" Soeharto and firms controlled by close associate Bob Hassan. More than $1 million ended up with a company linked to Mr Soeharto"s Golkar Party.   The foundation was one of several established by Mr Soeharto during his rule, funded by donations, state instrumentalities and semi-official levies on businesses. The vast bulk of the hundreds of millions raised were allegedly pocketed by cronies and relatives.   Although the Indonesian Government has pledged to recover the funds, most believe they have been secreted away during years of official inaction. As well as the return of the losses, prosecutors are demanding $1.3 billion in damages.   Civil suit against Suharto. (AFP)   Indonesian prosecutors filed a civil suit against former dictator Suharto, seeking more than one billion dollars in damages over funds he allegedly stole during his reign.   State prosecutors filed the suit in the South Jakarta District Court, asking for the return of 440 million dollars allegedly misappropriated, plus 10 trillion rupiah (1.10 billion dollars) in further damages.   The suit alleges that Suharto funnelled the money from the state through the Supersemar Foundation, which is named as a co-defendant, to his own accounts.   "The suit was filed because evidence has been found that the funds gathered by Suharto and the foundation he chaired were not only used for scholarships... but in reality the funds were also used for other purposes," prosecutor Dachmer Munthe says.   The prosecutors also demanded the seizure of the building that houses the foundation"s headquarters. Suharto, 85, has so far escaped any criminal trial for alleged corruption involving billions of dollars during his 32-year rule of Indonesia, which ended in 1998 when he was forced to step down amid protests.
	Experts, NGOs urge U.N. to save independent rights investigators by Reuters - Africa   9 May 2007   The United Nations needs to protect the status of its human rights investigators which is under threat from some countries who don"t want them probing into their domestic affairs, campaign groups said on Wednesday.   A petition on the issue, sponsored by Amnesty International and other rights bodies, called on the United Nations Human Rights Council to strengthen the investigator"s role amid mounting diplomatic manoeuvring over the future of the U.N."s investigation system. The independent experts must be allowed "to monitor and respond rapidly to allegations of human rights violations throughout the world as effectively as possible, without interference," the petition urged the 47-nation Council.   Amnesty official Alex Neve said one proposal tabled for discussion at the Council"s next session in mid-June could have "devastating results" for the 40-year-old investigation system.   The proposal, from the Council"s African group, would establish a 15-article "code of conduct" for the investigators -- officially known as "special rapporteurs" -- whose reports are often highly critical of governments.   Amnesty and other campaign groups say the code, which they fear will have a majority on the Council with backing of Islamic states, Cuba, Russia and China, could put the sleuths under effective control of the governments they are investigating.   While formally declaring the independence of the investigators, the code would drastically reduce their freedom to gather information from victims of rights" violations and non-government groups (NGOs), and to speak openly about their findings, they say.   Chilean lawyer and former special investigator Roberto Garreton told journalists rapporteurs" freedom "has to be defended at all costs." Limiting contacts with the media and the public at large "would wreck the whole system," he said.   Garreton said reports by U.N. investigators had helped expose rights violations under the Chilean military regime of Augusto Pinochet in the 1970s and 1980s. "They did not please Pinochet but they gave heart to rights defenders," he added.   Another speaker, former political prisoner Golden Misabiko from the Democratic Republic of Congo, said persistence by a U.N. investigator had led to his release when he faced death under the rule of the late dictator Mobutu Sese Seko.
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