VOA常速英语2008年-Indonesian Court Acquits Suharto but Finds his

By Nancy-Amelia Collins
Jakarta
27 March 2008

An Indonesian court has acquitted¹ the late dictator Suharto in a civil case but found his charity foundation guilty of graft² and ordered it to repay the government more than $100 million in state funds. VOA's Nancy-Amelia Collins in Jakarta has more.

Judge Wahyono ruled Thursday Suharto's Supersemar Foundation had stolen $110 million from the state, but said the former president and his children were not legally liable because the decisions were made by the foundation's board and not Suharto.

The Indonesian government had sought more than $1 billion in damages in the civil case, alleging³ Suharto pocketed millions of dollars of state money intended for student scholarships from the foundation.

 

One of the lawyers representing the late Suharto and his six children, Muhammad Assegaf, says he is partially⁴ satisfied with the verdict.

"On behalf of Suharto, we are satisfied his name has been cleared, but not on the behalf of the foundation," he said.

He says the team of lawyers will file an appeal on behalf of Supersemar Foundation.

"The foundation has instructed the team of lawyers to reject the court decision by submitting an appeal, because they consider they have the full authority to manage the funds no matter where they came from," Assegaf said. "This has nothing to do with state money."

Suharto ruled Indonesia with an iron fist for three decades, but was ousted⁵ in 1998 after massive student-led protests over worsening economic and social chaos⁶ forced him to resign.

In 2000, prosecutors⁷ charged the former president with embezzling⁸ $600 million but he was never tried in court because his lawyers argued Suharto was too ill to stand trial.

Suharto, who died in January at the age of 86, accumulated extensive business interests during his 32 years in power, ranging from airlines and television stations to hotels and toll⁹ roads.

Transparency International ranked Suharto with an estimated worth of $15 to $30 billion.

1 acquitted   

宣判…无罪( acquit的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（自己）作出某种表现

参考例句：

• The jury acquitted him of murder. 陪审团裁决他谋杀罪不成立。
• Five months ago she was acquitted on a shoplifting charge. 五个月前她被宣判未犯入店行窃罪。

2 graft   

n.移植，嫁接，艰苦工作，贪污；v.移植，嫁接

参考例句：

• I am having a skin graft on my arm soon.我马上就要接受手臂的皮肤移植手术。
• The minister became rich through graft.这位部长透过贪污受贿致富。

3 alleging   

断言，宣称，辩解( allege的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• His reputation was blemished by a newspaper article alleging he'd evaded his taxes. 由于报上一篇文章声称他曾逃税，他的名誉受到损害。
• This our Peeress declined as unnecessary, alleging that her cousin Thornhill's recommendation would be sufficient. 那位贵人不肯，还说不必，只要有她老表唐希尔保荐就够了。

4 partially   

adv.部分地，从某些方面讲

参考例句：

• The door was partially concealed by the drapes.门有一部分被门帘遮住了。
• The police managed to restore calm and the curfew was partially lifted.警方设法恢复了平静，宵禁部分解除。

5 ousted   

驱逐( oust的过去式和过去分词 )； 革职； 罢黜； 剥夺

参考例句：

• He was ousted as chairman. 他的主席职务被革除了。
• He may be ousted by a military takeover. 他可能在一场军事接管中被赶下台。

6 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

7 prosecutors   

检举人( prosecutor的名词复数 )； 告发人； 起诉人； 公诉人

参考例句：

• In some places,public prosecutors are elected rather than appointed. 在有些地方，检察官是经选举而非任命产生的。 来自口语例句
• You've been summoned to the Prosecutors' Office, 2 days later. 你在两天以后被宣到了检察官的办公室。

8 embezzling   

v.贪污，盗用（公款）( embezzle的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Accordingly, object embezzling waste to be carried temporarily the schedule of administration. 因此，反对贪污浪费就提上了临时中央政府的议事日程。 来自互联网
• Some were sentenced for taking bribes, others executed for embezzling funds. 有的因受贿而被判刑，有的因侵吞公款而被判处死刑。 来自互联网

9 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。