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JAKARTA: An Indonesian court Tuesday postponed hearings in a civil corruption case against late former president Suharto in observance of the official seven-day mourning period declared after his death.
The government is seeking US$1.4 billion in returned assets and damages from Suharto, who died aged 86 on Sunday, and the Supersemar Foundation, a charity he previously chaired.
The case - part of a renewed effort by the government to bring the former dictator to justice - alleges Suharto oversaw the misallocation of money intended for student scholarships.
Judges were on Tuesday to have delivered their decision on whether the civil case should proceed.
Indonesia's attorney general's office earlier this month rejected a request to abandon the civil case. A criminal corruption case against the former dictator was abandoned in 2006 due to his ill health.
"We are now in a national mourning period and the panel of judges are also mourning, so the trial will be postponed," the head of the panel Wahjono said, adding that hearings would resume on February 12.
Speaking after Monday's hearing, Wahjono told reporters that the case would go on even if Suharto's children declined to appear as defendants in the case.
Under Indonesian law, a defendant in a civil case can be replaced by his heirs if he dies.
"It will not affect the course of the trial -- what's important is that they (Suharto's children) have been appropriately called and if they decline, that will mean that they relinquish their right to defend their interests," he said.
Wahjono said he had ordered prosecutors to formally name at least one heir to stand in place of Suharto before the trial continues.
Suharto's lawyer Otto Cornelis Kaligis offered to help the court appoint a defendant, but had his request declined.
Another member of Suharto's legal team, Muhammad Assegaf, told Elshinta radio that they had not yet consulted with the family to decide about who would stand as a defendant.
"Now is not an appropriate time to discuss the matter," he said.
- AFP/yb
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