[JURIST] Indonesian prosecutors Monday went to court in a civil lawsuit against Tommy Suharto [BBC report], the youngest son of former President Haji Mohammed Suharto [BBC profile; JURIST news archive], in order to recover an alleged $55 million in losses related to a land exchange scam from the mid-1990s. After failing to reach a settlement [Reuters report] in the suit last week, prosecutors are trying to prove that Tommy Suharto traded inexpensive swamp land to Bulog, Indonesia's national logistics agency, in return for high value real estate in Jakarta. Six years ago, when Suharto was in hiding [BBC report], the Supreme Court overturned a criminal corruption conviction in connection with the scheme. Suharto's lawyer argues that the lawsuit has no merit since the Supreme Court already ruled that Suharto was not guilty [CNN report].

Last October, Tommy Suharto was released from prison by court order [JURIST report] after serving a 10-year sentence for hiring a hitman to kill the Supreme Court judge [BBC report] who had initially found him guilty. In September, Indonesian prosecutors began court proceedings [JURIST report] against the elder Suharto in a civil action alleging that he embezzled $440 million from the Yayasan Supersemar, a state-funded scholarship fund, between 1974 and 1998. DPA has more.