Mr Suharto's two sons, Hutomo Mandala Putra (left) and Bambang Trihatmodjo (right), and their four siblings came to control some of Indonesia's largest conglomerates during Mr Suharto's 32-year rule. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

Mr Suharto, who died on Sunday, and a charity he chaired were defendants in a civil corruption case in which the government was seeking 1.4 billion dollars (S$1.99 billion) in returned assets and damages.

The former president was alleged to have overseen the misallocation of money intended for scholarships by the Supersemar Foundation.

A request to abandon the suit by allies of Mr Suharto during his illness was rejected by Indonesia's attorney general earlier this month.

'A civil case cannot be easily dropped when a person dies. The government can still confiscate assets that were deemed to have been taken unlawfully,' human rights lawyer Chairul Anam told reporters.

Senior legal expert and seasoned lawyer Trimoelja Surjadi also said that as his legal heirs - Mr Suharto's children could now become defendants.

'Of course they could say no, but in doing so they would have to make a statement refusing Mr Suharto's whole inheritance, since the (settlement) would be paid from his bequests,' he told reporters.

'An out of court settlement can be done, but in doing that the government should do a complete audit of Mr Suharto's assets and cannot unilaterally decide on an amount - otherwise the parliament will grill the government on this,' he said.

The civil suit against Mr Suharto, who quit as president in 1998 after massive protests, is part of a revived effort by the current government to bring him to justice.

A criminal suit against him was abandoned in 2006 on health grounds.

'The problem is the attorney general's office only focuses on the foundations, there are many other cases where Mr Suharto's economic policy illegally benefited his cronies and these cases remain untouched,' said Mr Anam.

He added: 'The government can freeze the assets of Mr Suharto's cronies if they want... at the same time, Golkar's political machine is still quite strong (to counter the move).'

'However, there are no time limits on civil cases.'

Golkar has transformed itself into a political party that has managed to secure the largest share of seats in the nation's parliament.

Mr Suharto's son, Hutomo 'Tommy' Mandala Putra Suharto and his five siblings came to control some of Indonesia's largest conglomerates during Mr Suharto's 32-year rule.

The children are alleged to have used their connections to secure preferment for contracts and demand kickbacks. -- AFP

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