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Jakarta. The State Administrative Court on Thursday will begin hearing the ownership dispute over Televisi Pendidikan Indonesia, at the heart of which is a contentious Justice Ministry letter.

The station’s majority owner, Hary Tanoesoedibjo, insists the letter, issued on June 8 and annulling his ownership, was unlawful and has sued the Justice and Human Rights Ministry.

“The letter was issued by an acting director in the ministry so it can be regarded as unlawful,” Andi Simangunsong of his legal team said over the weekend.

“Such a decision should have been made by a director general at the very least, not a subordinate, and especially not an acting official.”

The letter was signed by Rike Amavita, the ministry’s acting director for state administrative affairs, and annulled a previous decree granting ownership of TPI to PT Berkah Karya Bersama, a subsidiary of Hary’s holding company, Media Nusantara Citra.

The letter has been used by Siti “Tutut” Hardiyanti Rukmana, the eldest daughter of former President Suharto, to justify her own claims to TPI, of which she was the sole owner until 2002.

“We weren’t notified about the letter and only learned about it after hundreds of people came to TPI to claim they owned it, based on that letter,” Andi said.

Hary previously met Aidir Amin Daud, the ministry’s director general of public law administration and Rike’s immediate superior, to clarify the issue.

However, Aidir said the letter was lawful and binding, and based on findings from a ministry investigation.

“The letter is genuine, it was issued by Justice and Human Rights Ministry, and it doesn’t matter who signed it,” he said this month.

“All it does is highlight that the registration process that Berkah underwent was invalid. The real issue of TPI’s ownership, meanwhile, is something for the court to decide.”

The letter was based on a probe that ruled that Hary’s previously successful registration of his management of TPI was not in accordance with existing procedures.

Complicating the matter is that the ministry’s Web site for corporate registrations was operated by a company run by Hary’s older brother, Hartono Tanoesoedibjo, and is the focus of a Rp 410 billion ($44.5 million) graft probe.

Aidir said that since 2005, Tutut had opposed the ministry’s acceptance of Hary’s registration, but only during the tenure of current Minister Patrialis Akbar had an investigation into the issue been conducted.

The spat between Hary and Tutut stems from 2002, when she sought his help to settle her debts, promising Berkah a 70 percent stake in TPI in return.

Tutut’s camp claims that relations soured when Hary proposed selling a 100-hectare lot at the Taman Mini Indonesia Indah theme park, set up by Tutut’s mother, as part of his financial makeover of TPI.

However, the station’s management has denied this, saying the land was never up for sale and remains a part of the company’s assets.

“Considering the capital strength and the increasingly high capital performance [of TPI], it would be illogical that management ... would consider selling land to cover its operational costs,” TPI chief corporate secretary Wijaya Kusuma Soebroto told the Jakarta Globe.

Tutut has since attempted to regain control of the company, including by trying to register her claim through the Justice Ministry’s Web site in 2005.

That attempt failed for “technical problems” in the online system, while an attempt to file a manual registration was also rejected.

Soon after, Berkah successfully registered its own claim to TPI through the Web site.

Hary has said that under the original agreement with Tutut, Berkah paid $55 million for a 75 percent share in TPI, with Tutut keeping the remaining shares.

He says Tutut has repeatedly declined offers for a meeting to settle the dispute.

Hotman Paris Hutapea, another of Hary’s lawyers, said the ministry was not authorized to dictate who should be recognized as the lawful owner of TPI, pointing out that the broadcaster had been a publicly traded company since June 2007.

He added that Tutut had benefited from the rise in TPI’s shares, and thus had no right to seek back shares held by Berkah that have since been traded.