Time ordered to pay $106m damages

Indonesia’s highest court ordered Time magazine to pay $106 million in damages for defaming former dictator Suharto by alleging his family amassed billions of dollars during his 32-year rule, officials said yesterday.

The May 1999 cover story in the magazine’s Asian edition said much of the money had been transferred from Switzerland to Austria before Suharto stepped down in 1998 and that the family had $15bn in 1999.

Suharto, who has also been accused of widespread rights abuses, filed a lawsuit with the Central District Jakarta and later the Jakarta High Court, both of which ruled in Time’s favour.