By Lucy Williamson BBC News, Jakarta

The state must now pay damages to Tommy Suharto

The son of the late Indonesian President Suharto has had civil charges against him dropped by a Jakarta court.

Judges ruled that Hutomo Mandala Putra, known as Tommy Suharto, did not owe the state $50m (�25m) as the Attorney General had claimed.

The allegations centred around a land deal Tommy Suharto made with a state agency while his father was in power.

The court said that while the deal had violated the law, all losses had been settled and the claim was rejected.

Instead, the court ordered the state to pay Tommy Suharto half a million US dollars in damages.

The case was centred around a land swap deal made 13 years ago in which Mr Suharto signed over an area of swamp in north Jakarta in return for a prime piece of real estate.

This is the second time he has been in court over the issue.

In 2000, a criminal court convicted him of embezzlement but the conviction was later overturned by the Supreme Court, prompting the state to launch a civil suit.