JAKARTA - THE Indonesian government and Suharto family have agreed to settle out of court a civil corruption suit against the former president, who is critically ill, the attorney general said Saturday.

'We have reached a deal with Mr Suharto's family, represented by Tutut (his eldest daughter), that the civil case related to the Supersemar foundation will be settled out of the court,' Attorney General Hendarman Supanji told reporters.

The government had been seeking in court 1.4 billion dollars in damages and returned assets allegedly accrued through one of the charitable foundations Suharto chaired while in power.

The former president, 86, suffered multiple organ failure on Friday and is being kept alive in hospital by a ventilator.

Under Indonesian law, if a defendant dies during such a civil suit, his or family must instead defend the case.

'If we settle the case in court, it means that there?s one loser and the other wins and the process will be quite long. But if we settle it outside the court, then there will be a win-win solution,' Mr Supanji added.

Mr Suharto's allies had called earlier in the week for the case against Suharto to be abandoned as the ex-dictator slipped into a critical condition after being admitted to a Jakarta hospital on Jan 4.

They were rebuffed by the attorney general.

Mr Suharto has been in and out of hospital for various ailments, including two strokes, since his 1998 downfall. A criminal corruption case was dropped against him in 2006 due to his poor health.

Investigations into several other charitable foundations that Mr Suharto chaired have been ongoing. It was not immediately clear whether these would continue. -- AFP

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