JAKARTA: An Indonesian court on Monday postponed for two weeks the opening hearing in a civil lawsuit against the youngest son of ex-president Suharto attempting to recover state money lost in a land scam.

Judge Haswardi, heading the panel of judges hearing the case seeking to recover millions of dollars in state funds, postponed the hearing after lawyers for one of the co-defendants could not be present.

Hutomo Mandala Putra Suharto, known as Tommy, was president of Goro Batara Sakti (GBS), which swapped land with the national logistics agency Bulog in the 1990s. Another GBS executive Ricardo Gelael is also being sued, along with the former chairman of Bulog.

Fast-living businessman Tommy was sentenced to 18 months in jail and fined $3 million in 2000 in connection with the swap, in which GBS acquired prime Bulog-owned land to build a Goro superstore.

In return, GBS supplied Bulog with a worthless swamp in North Jakarta. The conviction was the first one given to a member of Suharto’s family for corruption.—AFP