From: 3ZLUFUR@CMUVM.CSV.CMICH.EDU (Elliott Parker)
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.seasia-l
Subject: ID: Pertamina wins suit against Kartika Thahir
Date: 15 Dec 92 13:52:47 GMT
Organization: Central Michigan University
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU

=======================  Forwarded  Message  ===========================
To: "Indonesian Students @ Janus" <indonesians@janus.berkeley.EDU>
Date: Mon, 7 Dec 92 17:08:05 CST

                Copyright 1992 The Straits Times Press Limited
                               The Straits Times

                                December  4, 1992


BYLINE: Ben Davidson
    THE Indonesian oil corporation Pertamina yesterday won its $ 130-million
suit against the widow of a former employee after the High Court found that the
money in his Singapore bank account came out of bribes he obtained from German
contractors before he died in 1976.

   The battle for the money, deposited as Asian Currency Units (ACUs) in the
Sumitomo Bank here, was between Pertamina and Mrs Kartika Ratna Thahir, widow of
the late General Haji Achmad Thahir, who was general assistant to then

President-Director of Pertamina, Lt-Gen Ibnu Sutowo.

   Also named as a defendant was the estate of Mrs Kartika's husband,
represented by the children of her husband's earlier marriage.

   Indonesia's Defence and Security Minister, General Benny Murdani, was the
principal witness at the 45-day hearing.

   He had testified that when he met Mrs Kartika in Geneva in 1977 she admitted
that the money in the joint Sumitomo Bank account she held with her late husband
were commissions paid to him by two German contractors.

   In his 214-page judgment yesterday, Justice Lai Kew Chai said he was
convinced General Murdani's evidence was a true account of how Mr Thahir came by
the fortune.

   Said the judge: "Throughout, he (Gen Murdani) remained a gentleman and did
not in any way denigrate Mrs Kartika Thahir nor did he return measure for
measure.

   "At the end of the day, I was left in no doubt that he was clearly and
unquestionably undergirded by the armour of truth."

   The existence of the illegal commissions would not have come to light had not
the children of Mr Thahir's first wife blocked Mrs Kartika, the second wife,
from withdrawing the money on July 26, 1976, in the same month Mr Thahir, 64,
died of a heart attack.

   As result of the legal dispute, Pertamina got wind of the immense sums its
former employee had stashed away. Pertamina, represented by Mr Wong Meng Meng,
argued that there was ample evidence to suggest that the money in fact came out
of Pertamina's payments to two German contractors for steel works and
infrastructure projects for an industrial site in West Java in the 1970s.

   Justice Lai accepted this, noting that Pertamina's auditors were able to
match the company's payments and the ACU deutschemark deposits Mr Thahir made to
the bank for the relevant periods.

   Another point was that Mr Thahir, with his salary of US$ 9,000 a year, would
have had to work several lifetimes in order to earn that kind of money.

   The judge also noted that Mrs Kartika chose not to testify. She was not in
court throughout the trial. Said the judge: "The deafening silence tells against
Mrs Kartika Thahir."

   On the question of the proper law that should apply in this case, he held it
was Singapore law, not Indonesian law, since the law must be the law of the
place where the enrichment takes place.

   "Since the money was found in the Singapore in the account of Mr and Mrs
Thahir, the enrichment took place in Singapore," he ruled.

   He added that even if Indonesian law did not apply, Mr Thahir had committed a
criminal act under Indonesian law and was bound to restore to his employer the
proceeds of his ill-gotten gains.

   Justice Lai then ordered that Pertamina was entitled to the 17 ACU DM units,
amounting to about $ 130 million, but not to two US$ 5 million ACU accounts
which the court decided were not linked to the pay-offs.

   Mrs Kartika and Mr Thahir's estate were also ordered to pay costs. Mr K.
Shanmugam appeared for Mrs Kartika and Mr Harry Wee was for the second
defendants, representing the estate. Mr Chua Lee Ming appeared for the bank.

    Complicated legal tussle that began more than 16 years ago

    Haji Achmad Thahir, general assistant to the then President Director of
Pertamina, died of a heart attack in  Jakarta  in July 1976. Among the things he
left was a sum of money in a Singapore bank which now amounts to nearly $ 130
million.

   As a result of a tussle for the money between his second wife, Madam Kartika
Ratna, and the children of his first wife, Pertamina learnt about the fortune he
had accumulated and also staked its own claim. It argued that the money came
from bribes and it was entitled to recover it.
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU