JAKARTA - A CHARITABLE foundation set up by the late former Indonesian president Suharto was ordered on Thursday to pay US$110 million (S$152 million) to the government in a ruling on a civil case intended to claw back funds allegedly stolen from the state during his rule.

The figure is 25 per cent of the sum that state prosecutors were seeking in missing funds.

The court rejected a separate damages claim of US$1.1 billion (S$1.52 million).

Judges made it clear in their ruling that money must be paid by the foundation Mr Suharto set up, not the family of the late dictator.

Nevertheless, Judge Wahyono ruled that 'Suharto and his foundation broke government rules' by siphoning off some its funds to companies linked to the dictator, who died in January at the age of 86.

Since his death, Mr Suharto's children were named as defendants in the case under Indonesian law. None were in court to hear the ruling. Both Suharto and the foundation also were named as defendants in the suit.

'It is fair and fitting that 25 per cent (of the sum demanded) be returned,' said Mr Wahyono, who goes by a single name.

The Suharto family lawyer Mohammed Assegaf said he would appeal the ruling.

'Where did they get that figure from?' he asked.

A lawyer representing the foundation, Juan Felix Tampubolon, said it would appeal the decision.

None of the Suharto children were in court.

Mr Suharto's family accumulated extensive business interests during the former ruler's three decades in power, including hotels, toll roads, car manufacturers, airlines, and TV stations.

Transparency International ranked Mr Suharto as the world's leading kleptocrat with a fortune estimated at US$15-US$35 billion.

The foundation collected donations from business executives and other sources to provide scholarships. Many organisations regarded such donations as more or less compulsory during Mr Suharto's rule.

In previous hearings, prosecutors told the court that during the 1980s and 1990s, the foundation paid money to companies owned by members of the Suharto family or their close associates.

These included a privately owned bank, an airline controlled by one of Mr Suharto's sons, a logging firm, and a cooperative linked to Golkar, the political party which was run by Suharto and which is now a member of the ruling coalition.

Critics say the former general and his family amassed as much as US$45 billion in kickbacks or deals, but Mr Suharto and his family have always previously denied any wrongdoing.

Attempts to bring criminal charges for graft against Suharto were dropped in 2001 because the supreme court justice at that time ruled he was too ill to stand trial.

Mr Suharto's 32-year rule ended in 1998 amid student protests and nationwide riots. In 2000, prosecutors charged him with embezzling US$600 million, but he never saw the inside of court after his lawyers argued that a series of strokes had left him with irreversible brain damage. -- AP, REUTERS