Developer buys Suharto lodge

By Chris Hutching

Friday 19th April 2002

Lilybank Station, once described as Tommy Suharto's South Pacific bolthole, is about to pass back into Kiwi ownership.

Mr Suharto, the disgraced son of the former Indonesian dictator, owned the seldom-used luxury Lilybank Lodge in the central South Island Mackenzie Country until late 1999, when he sold it to fellow Indonesian Alan Poh for $1.

For the past couple of years until February this year the property was been listed on the Bayleys Real Estate website under the title "Escape from America."

The most recent list price was $7.2 million plus GST. The property is now under contract to a New Zealand investor with a speedy settlement expected after a two-week due diligence period.

Players in the deal were spotted last weekend in a Tekapo pub celebrating the sale, understood to be to an Auckland-based property developer.

The Bayleys agent dealing with the listing is Chris Turner who has been working with Christchurch lawyer and agent for the vendor, Charles Levin. Mr Turner was unable to comment yesterday, because of client confidentiality.

But The National Business Review understands the new owner is considering refurbishing the lodge and operating it as a luxury tourist lodge as originally intended.

The property comprises 8ha adjacent to more than 25,000ha of pastoral lease, recently surrendered under an arrangement with the commissioner of Crown lands.

Mr Suharto bought the property in 1992 and in subsequent years there were numerous disputes over recreational access to Lilybank Station's pastoral lease lands.

Mr Suharto's sale of the property in late 1999 for just $1, according to information provided to the Overseas Investment Commission (OIC) at the time, raised concerns about the legitimacy of the deal until an agent for the new Indonesian owner, Mr Poh, explained there were considerable liabilities attached. The sale involved the transfer of shares in Buckcorp Holdings No 68.

Loan money for the original Lilybank deal came from Maypole Group, incorporated in the British Virgin Islands tax haven, and owned 67% by Mr Suharto and 33% by Mr Poh.

The background to the political sensitivities during this period has just been revealed with the release of OIC papers under an Official Information Act request by Christchurch Campaign Against Foreign Control in Aotearoa (Cafca), whose members comprise a loose alliance of left-wing activists.

A summary of the reports is provided is provided in Cafca's soon-to-be published newsletter called Watchdog.

The papers reveal that the OIC carried out its own checks into Buckcorp with the Companies Office and was unhappy at the transfer of the Buckcorp shares to Mr Poh several months before necessary consents had been obtained from relevant government ministers as required under the 1995 overseas investment regulations.

The OIC also queried the accuracy of financial returns and required the agent Mr Levin to send an amended return.

The political sensitivity surrounding Mr Suharto's ownership was heightened last year when representatives of Indonesia's attorney general met various New Zealand government ministers to carry out investigations into Suharto assets here.

By that time Mr Suharto - full name Hutomo Mandala Putra Suharto - was in captivity facing criminal charges after an 18-month period as a fugitive when he was allegedly involved in various criminal activities.

A legal requirement of overseas investors under the OIC regulations is that they be persons of good character, although this is not defined in law.

References were provided for Mr Poh by two lawyers, including Christchurch lawyer Grant Cameron, that he was of good character.

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