[JURIST] Indonesian prosecutors filed a civil action against former President Haji Mohammad Suharto [CNN profile] Monday, alleging that Suharto embezzled $440 million from the Yayasan Supersemar, a state-funded academic scholarship fund, between 1974 and 1998. The suit, which seeks to recover the $440 million and an additional $1.1 billion in damages, represents the latest effort by the Indonesian government to hold Suharto legally accountable for his 32-year reign, which ended in 1998 after public discontent amid the Asian financial crisis erupted into violent protests.

In January, Indonesian Attorney General Abdul Rahman Saleh announced plans to bring the civil action [JURIST report] against Suharto after dropping criminal charges of corruption [JURIST report] because Suharto has been rendered unable to speak or write [JURIST report] as a result of several strokes. AP has more. BBC News has additional coverage.