JAKARTA, Nov 20: Former Indonesian dictator Suharto skimmed millions of dollars of state money from a charitable foundation he chaired, a witness told a court here on Tuesday.

Former state comptroller Sigit Susilobroto told the South Jakarta district court Suharto’s Supersemar Foundation received 1.2 trillion rupiah ($129 million) from state enterprises between 1974 and 1997, but only spent 203 billion rupiah on the education and social programmes it was intended for.

Suharto, who was forced from power in 1998, and the foundation are facing a civil lawsuit brought by the Indonesian government seeking to recover $1.4 billion in allegedly stolen money as well as interest and damages.

Susilobroto was assigned by the state prosecutor’s office in 2000 as an investigator in an earlier criminal case into Suharto’s involvement with the charity.

The former official said the foundation transferred some 186.3 billion rupiah to several companies, including airline Sempati and Bank Duta.—AFP