World Bank to help Jakarta recover Suharto’s foreign assets
Jakarta (AsiaNews) – Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will meet World Bank President Robert Zoellick when he visits the United Nations in New York on September 22-26. The two men will discuss a recent report by the World Bank which places former Indonesian dictator Suharto at the top of a list of the most corrupt leaders for embezzling public funds.
The report, which covers several decades, was produced by the United Nations and the World Bank. It was released on Monday at the same time as the UN’s Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative.
Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda announced what the Indonesian president and the WB chairman would discuss. Above all, Jakarta wants back the money Suharto placed in foreign banks.
The World Bank and the United Nations pledged their co-operation, saying they would direct their experts and use their network of contacts with banks around the world to get the right information.
During his reign from 1967 to 1998 General Suharto took advantage of Indonesia’s economic boom to enrich his family and aides through state monopolies, subsidies and other means.
According to some estimates, Suharto's family fortune ranges from US$ 15 to 35 billion.
However, in a related case the former dictator won a libel suit against Time Asia for an article it published in May 1999 in which it claimed that most of the funds he embezzled were in accounts in Switzerland, New Zealand, Great Britain and the United States.
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