Indonesia filed a $440m civil lawsuit against Tommy Suharto, the youngest son of the country's former dictator, on Monday for allegedly illegally buying back a car company he surrendered to the government after being unable to pay debts during the Asian financial crisis.

The case against Hutomo “Tommy” Mandala Putra and five companies believed to be involved in the deal is the government’s third attempt to recoup some of the $35bn (€22.6bn, £17.8bn) corruption watchdogs claim the Suharto family stole during the former president’s 32 years in office which ended in 1998. Tommy defeated the government’s previous two suits against him, both linked to an alleged land scam in 1995, but served five years in prison for ordering the assassination of the judge who initially convicted him in the first case.