Hary Tanoe Sued Rp119 Trillion By Jusuf Hamka, MNC Calls Case Expired!

MNC Bank will conduct a rights issue and target funds of IDR 4 trillion to IDR 4.5 trillion. (photo; ANTARA dock)

JAKARTA The legal battle between two major Indonesian businessmen is heating up again. Hary Tanoesoedibjo's PT MNC Asia Holding Tbk confirmed that the criminal and civil lawsuit filed by PT Citra Marga Nusaphala Persada Tbk (CMNP) belonging to Jusuf Hamka related to securities transactions in 1999 was expired and irrelevant.

PT MNC Asia Holding's Legal Director, Chris Taufik, stated that the transaction in question occurred 26 years ago, May 12, 1999, when CMNP bought a Negotiatable Certificate of Deposit (NCD) from PT Bank Unibank. In that transaction, MNC only acts as a broker or intermediary according to the company's business sector. Since then, MNC no longer has any involvement with the transaction.

Chris emphasized that all the next matters were carried out directly between CMNP and Unibank, starting from the confirmation of public accountants, recording in financial reports, to verifying the validity of the issuance of NCD. However, on October 29, 2001, Unibank was officially liquidated so that it failed to fulfill its payment obligations to CMNP. "The one who failed to pay was Unibank, not the Company," said Chris.

In fact, this NCD problem has been legally tested. In 2004, CMNP sued Unibank, BPPN, government, and Bank Indonesia through the Central Jakarta District Court, but the court declared the NCD legal. From a criminal perspective, CMNP also reported to the Criminal Investigation Unit in 2009, but the case was terminated through SP3 in 2011. The validity of SP3 has even been tested to the level of cassation and remains valid.

However, on August 13, 2025, the Central Jakarta District Court again held a trial against the CMNP against Hary Tanoe. In a trial chaired by Judge Fajar Kusuma Aji, CMNP demanded fantastic compensation: IDR 103 trillion materially and IDR 16 trillion immaterially. This amount can even be said to continue to grow until all losses are declared paid off along with the fines.

According to CMNP's attorney, Primaditya Wirasan, this lawsuit was filed because of alleged unlawful acts in fraudulent NCD transactions worth US$28 million (equivalent to Rp457 billion at the current exchange rate) which caused losses of trillions of rupiah to CMNP.

Apart from Hary Tanoe, this lawsuit also dragged PT MNC Asia Holding as Defendant II, Tito Sulistio as Defendant III, and Teddy Kharsadi as Defendant IV.

Chris emphasized that this new lawsuit is still limited to reading and no decision has yet been made. "Everything has permanent legal force. So what is being questioned now has actually passed time," he said.

This case is also in the public spotlight because it involves two large tycoons in the country, with fantastic lawsuits and leaves a big question mark: will this old legal conflict shake up the Indonesian business world again?