Understanding The Case Of Misappropriation Of Supersemar Foundation Funds

JAKARTA - Yesterday, Tuesday 10 March, the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs (Menko Polhukam) Mahfud MD hoped to have a foundation like Supersemar. The foundation is useful for helping the world of education. However, the Supersemar Foundation, which was formed by the second President of the Republic of Indonesia Soeharto, is involved in a corruption case.

Supersemar Foundation was formed on May 16, 1974. This foundation has a noble goal, to provide scholarships for students for underprivileged families. The funds were obtained from deposits made by state-owned banks which were legitimized by Government Regulation Number 15 of 1976 concerning the Stipulation of Use of the Remaining Net Profits of State-Owned Banks, and Decree of the Ministry of Finance which contained 50 percent of the 5 percent of the remaining net profit of state-owned banks being deposited into an account. Supersemar Foundation.

Quoting the October 1, 2007 edition of Tempo, the foundation raised US $ 420 (around Rp. 3.78 trillion) and Rp. 185.9 billion. However, in practice, the funds that have been collected are misappropriated. According to prosecutors, the funds actually flowed to a number of Suharto's family and crony companies.

Because of this problem, Suharto and the Supersemar Scholarship Foundation were sued. He was asked for material compensation of the amount he received, namely US $ 420 million and Rp.185.9 billion. In addition, the prosecutor's office also demanded immaterial compensation of Rp. 10 trillion, which was calculated as a result of misuse of funds.

However, on March 27, 2008, the Panel of Judges at the South Jakarta District Court, chaired by Wahjono, stated that Suharto was innocent because he had been responsible for his actions to the Foundation's management. The lawsuit was then submitted to the Supersemar Foundation. They are required to pay compensation for 25 percent of the demands filed by the government, namely US $ 105 million and Rp46 billion.

However, since the district court's decision until the appeal court was issued, the Foundation did not want to pay the compensation. They maintained their innocence and claimed they had no money and assets either.

Money flowed to Suharto's cronies

Supersemar Foundation helps a lot for education costs. Quoting the April 27, 2009 edition of Tempo, the Head of the Humus and Protocol Section of the Supersemar Foundation said that the funds used by the Foundation for scholarships until 2008 were more than Rp. 500 billion.

According to the prosecutor's office, the foundation committed irregularities because it disbursed 419.9 million funds to PT Bank Duta (September 1990), Tommy Soeharto's PT Sempati Air of IDR 13 billion (1989-1997), PT Kiani Lestari and Kiani Sakti owned by Bob Hassan IDR 150 billion, PT Kalhold Utama, Essam Timber, and PT Tanjung Redep Industrial Plantation Forest Rp. 12.74 billion (1982 to May 1993), Rp. 10 billion Kosgoro Business Group (December 1993).

The supersemar case continued until fresh air began to emerge in 2010. The Supreme Court finally strengthened the South Jakarta District Court's decision which had previously been strengthened by the DKI Jakarta High Court which stated that the Supersemar Foundation had committed an illegal act. However, there was a typo in the writing of the verdict, which should have been IDR185 billion written as IDR185 million. Therefore the verdict cannot be executed immediately.

In 2013 there was a judicial review contest between the Attorney General's Office and the Supersemar Foundation to the Supreme Court (MA). However, in 2015, the Supreme Court finally won the PK Attorney General's Office, and rejected the PK proposed by the Supersemar Foundation. The verdict stated that the Suharto family was obliged to pay compensation amounting to Rp.4.4 trillion to the state.

Three years later, the AGO began executing the confiscated assets of the Supersemar Foundation. As reported by kompas.com, the assets confiscated included villas in Mega Mendung, Bogor and the Granadi Building in South Jakarta. In addition, the AGO also confiscated 113 accounts belonging to the Supersemar Foundation by the execution team of the South Jakarta District Court to cover state losses.

The AGO is conducting an assessment of assessments by cooperating with the Asset Recovery Center (PPA) to hunt down all assets on behalf of the Supersemar Foundation, both at home and abroad. They will continue to confiscate supersemar's assets until they meet the state's loss target of Rp.4.4 trillion.