1. Puteh 3 x 10<\/p>\n
KPU told to
\nget tough on
\nPuteh probe<\/p>\n
The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) was urged to exercise
\nits authority to ensure the thorough investigation of Nanggroe
\nAceh Darussalam Governor Abdullah Puteh, who failed on Tuesday to
\nrespond to a summons to appear for questioning.<\/p>\n
\"The KPK must use their power, granted by the law, to ask the
\nPresident to suspend the governor, or freeze his assets,\" said
\nRomli Atmasasmita, coordinator of the Monitoring Forum for
\nCorruption Eradication.<\/p>\n
At a press conference on Tuesday, Romli was accompanied by
\nother forum members, including legal experts involved in enacting
\nthe law on the KPK, such as former justice minister Muladi and
\nsenior lawyer Adnan Buyung Nasution.<\/p>\n
Earlier that day, Puteh sent a fax to the commission, that
\nsaid he could not show up for questioning at the KPK due to his
\nbusy schedule. Instead, he pledged to appear on July 9.<\/p>\n
However, his lawyers said their client would not answer the
\nKPK's summons as it was sent as a fax.<\/p>\n
Puteh was charged with involvement in an alleged markup of Rp
\n12.6 billion (US$1.4 million) in the 2002 purchase of a Russian
\nMi-2 helicopter by the Aceh administration. The alleged graft
\ncost the state some Rp 4 billion.<\/p>\n
He had been grilled by the commission twice before he was
\ndeclared a suspect.<\/p>\n
Romly asserted that if the KPK failed to use its power to
\ninvestigate corruptors who were senior state officials, it would
\ndisgrace the commission.<\/p>\n
Muladi said the forum backed the KPK's move and opposed any
\nintervention by top government officials in Jakarta.<\/p>\n
\"Do not let corruption eradication efforts be tainted by
\npolitical moves. Let it be settled by the law,\" he said.<\/p>\n
A reliable source at the KPK complained that the commission
\nwas denied access by the Office of the Coordinating Minister of
\nPolitical and Security Affairs to obtain data on corruption cases
\nin Aceh, which was collected by a ministry team.<\/p>\n
The team, led by former finance minister Mar'ie Muhammad, was
\nassigned to monitor and supervise the implementation of the one-
\nyear martial law in the restive province, including the
\nallocation of its budget.<\/p>\n
The KPK sent a letter on June 10, asking the Office to give it
\nthe data. But, in his reply to the request, acting security
\nminister Hari Sabarno told the commission to \"coordinate directly
\nwith the leadership of relevant agencies\" to obtain the evidence.<\/p>\n
According to a copy of Hari's letter to the commission, which
\nwas obtained by The Jakarta Post, Hari argued the team's findings
\nhad been submitted to the related agencies for follow-ups,
\nbecause the data was still preliminary evidence or information.<\/p>\n
Hari had earlier sent a letter to the KPK, saying the central
\ngovernment still \"provided room and time\" for Puteh to continue
\nserving as the Aceh governor and the administrator of the
\nprovince's state of civil emergency. The letter was issued as the
\ncommission summoned Puteh for the first time.<\/p>\n
The report from the Mar'ie-led team, which was leaked to the
\nmedia, shows at least 21 corruption cases worth billions of
\nrupiah took place during the first six months of the year of
\nmartial law in Aceh, while other scandals hit the province in the
\nsecond period of the military operation that started on May 19
\nlast year.<\/p>\n
2. Trial 1 x 28<\/p>\n
Another BRI boss sent to jail<\/p>\n
Another former Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) branch head was found
\nguilty on Tuesday of stealing Rp 93.5 billion (US$9.5 million) in
\nstate funds and was sentenced to 17 years in prison.<\/p>\n
Last week, former branch heads of BRI Segitiga Senen Deden
\nGumilar Sapoetra and BRI Pasar Tanah Abang Agus Riyanto, were
\nsentenced to 16 years and six years in prison respectively for
\nmisusing state funds amounting to Rp 180 billion.<\/p>\n
Asep Tarwan, former head of BRI Surya Kencana Bogor, was found
\nguilty of channeling the money -- which came from an account of
\nPT Jamsostek -- as credit to PT Delta Makmur Ekspresindo (PT DME)
\nand PT Panca Prakarsa, without complying with proper procedures.<\/p>\n
He was also fined Rp 250 million and was ordered to repay some
\nRp 40 billion to the state.<\/p>\n
The sentence was lighter than the prosecution's recommendation
\nof 20 years and a fine of Rp 83.6 billion.<\/p>\n
The trial was held at the Bogor District Court, Bogor, led by
\nJudge Russedar, who asked the defendant to be sent straight to
\nprison after the trial.<\/p>\n
Asep, wearing a blue shirt and black trousers, said he would
\nconsider appealing the verdict.<\/p>\n
Separately, prosecutors at the Central Jakarta District Court
\nrecommended on Tuesday a 20-year prison term for Yudi Kartolo and
\nHartono Tjahjadjaja, commissioner and director of PT DME
\nrespectively.<\/p>\n
\"Both defendants were proven to have agreed to misappropriate
\nstate funds. Together with the banks' branch heads and their
\narrangers, they met several times to arrange the placement of
\ncredit in their accounts,\" said prosecutor Aziz Husein.<\/p>\n
PT DME is the company that was allegedly used as a vehicle to
\ntake money from three BRI branches -- Surya Kencana Bogor,
\nSegitiga Senen and Pasar Tanah Abang.<\/p>\n
Yudi and Hartono attended the court session at the start of
\nthe trial but left later due to nausea. A letter signed by
\ngeneral practitioner Yansen Sitorus said Yudi had an acute
\ndigestion problem.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors said Yudi and Hartono were proven to have at least
\nfour meetings with BRI branch heads before the placement of each
\ndeposit in the company's accounts in BRI.<\/p>\n
Between July and September 2003, PT DME's accounts in the
\nthree BRI branches received at least Rp 273 billion as \"loans
\nwith a high interest rate\".<\/p>\n
The money came from fixed deposit accounts, including those
\nbelonging to PT Jamsostek and Bank Pembangunan Daerah of East
\nKalimantan.<\/p>\n
All account holders denied they gave permission to the BRI
\nbranches heads to use their money.<\/p>\n
Yudi is reported to be an old hand at orchestrating banking
\nfraud because of his alleged involvement in the Rp 1.1 trillion
\nBank Negara Indonesia (BNI) case in 2001.<\/p>\n
3. Fire 1 x 32<\/p>\n
Police forest-fire investigation widens<\/p>\n
The police announced on Tuesday that they were seeking two more
\nsuspects and investigating around 10 companies in connection with
\nforest fires that aggravated the haze shrouding parts of Sumatra
\nisland and neighboring countries recently.<\/p>\n
Director of the National Police specific crimes division Brig.
\nGen. Suharto said, based on the interrogation of first suspect
\nAS, police were now looking for Nainggolan and Simatupang, who
\nwere believed to have started forest fires.<\/p>\n
\"We hope we can arrest them soon. They can give information on
\nwho else was involved in the forest fires besides AS,\" Suharto
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
AS, director of a plantation company in Minas district, Riau,
\nwas detained and taken to Jakarta recently by a team consisting
\nof officers from the National Police, the Office of the State
\nMinistry of the Environment and the prosecutor's office.<\/p>\n
The team said that AS had ordered two men to clear hundreds of
\nhectares of land by burning the vegetation there.<\/p>\n
Suharto explained police were investigating around 10
\nplantation companies allegedly involved in causing the fires in
\nseveral locations in Riau province.<\/p>\n
He said that the organizations were mostly pulp companies,
\nwhich had cleared thousands of hectares of forest to plant trees
\nto produce pulp. He declined to mention the names of any of the
\ncompanies.<\/p>\n
Head of the Riau Environmental Impact Management Agency
\n(BAPEDALDA) Khairul Zaenal said recently that land clearance
\nthrough burning had also occurred around other giant plantation
\ncompanies in the area, such as PT Multi Gambut Industri, PT Raja
\nGaruda Mas and PT Sari Lembah Subur.<\/p>\n
\"We are still investigating them. Soon, we shall announce the
\nresults. We believe that more people are involved in the matter,\"
\nsaid Suharto.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Forestry sent several officials on
\nFriday to Pekanbaru, Riau, to monitor the current situation in
\nthe field. \"It's still ongoing; we don't know the details yet,
\nbut the situation in Riau is under control now,\" said Masyhud,
\nhead of the Data Analysis Center of the ministry on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, ministry officials also visited locations
\naffected by fire in plantation areas in Perdana, South Pontianak,
\nand at transmigration areas in Rasau subdistrict, West Kalimantan
\nprovince.<\/p>\n
As of July 5, the ministry had identified a total of 896
\nforests and plantation hot spots in West Kalimantan province,
\nwith 321 of the hot spots in forested areas.<\/p>\n
Masyhud said that the number could be higher since many of the
\nhot spots could not be captured by the National Oceanographic
\nAtmospheric Administration (NOAA) satellite, due to cloud cover
\nand their small size.<\/p>\n
According to Masyhud, the hot spots in the plantations in West
\nKalimantan occupied less than 0.15 hectares, the minimum coverage
\nobservable by the NOAA satellite.<\/p>\n
\"This is dangerous, because these kinds of hot spots are
\nscattered throughout the island but we cannot monitor them
\nbecause they are out of the satellite's reach,\" said Masyhud.<\/p>\n
He added the governor of West Kalimantan had started a fire
\nprevention initiative to keep the fires from worsening.<\/p>\n
The initiative, inaugurated on Tuesday, will focus on several
\nactivities, such as hot spot monitoring, extinguishing fires and
\na public awareness program on the dangers of the slash-and-burn
\nmethod.<\/p>\n
Masyhud also lamented that the Ministry of Agriculture
\nappeared negligent, even though most fires occurred in plantation
\nareas.<\/p>\n
\"The ministry (of agriculture) hasn't taken any action to
\ncontrol the occurrence of fires in the plantations; neither has
\nit allocated special funds for fire prevention,\" said Masyhud.<\/p>\n
4. Cartagena 2 x 16<\/p>\n
DPR discusses new
\ngenetics protocol<\/p>\n
Ratifying an international biological diversity protocol would
\nhelp protect the country from the negative effects of making and
\nusing genetically modified organisms (GMOs), environmental
\nactivists said.<\/p>\n
The activists met with members of the House of
\nRepresentative's commission I on foreign affairs on Tuesday to
\ndiscuss ratifying the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety. The
\ncommission has also met with scientists and businesses about the
\nprotocol.<\/p>\n
Adopted in Montreal, Canada, in 2000, the protocol is an add-
\non measure to the Convention on Biological Diversity in 1992. In
\n1994, Indonesia passed Law No.5\/1994 on Biological Diversity to
\nratify the convention. Legislators passed the law to ensure the
\ncountry did not become a laboratory for GMO research by foreign
\ninterests.<\/p>\n
Biodiversity Foundation (Kehati) director Ismid Hadad said the
\nCartagena Protocol had clear guidelines for the creation of GMOs.<\/p>\n
\"The ratification of the protocol is important for us,\" he
\ntold legislators in the commission on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Tejo Wahyu Jatmiko from the National Consortium for
\nIndonesia's Forest and Natural Conservation (Konphalindo) said
\nenvironmental organizations backed the ratification.<\/p>\n
\"We have been waiting (for this) for four years,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The protocol sets out guidelines to ensure an adequate level
\nof protection for the safe transfer, handling and use of living
\nmodified organisms, which may have adverse effects on the
\nconservation and sustainable use of biological diversity
\nresources. It takes into account the risks to human health and
\nspecifically focuses on the international movement of GMOs.<\/p>\n
The most important aspect in the Cartagena Protocol is the
\nadoption of the \"precautionary principle\", which anticipates
\nscientific uncertainty in the making of GMOs.<\/p>\n
The Cartagena Protocol mandates the need for risk assessment
\nand risk management procedures before organisms can be
\ngenetically modified.<\/p>\n
After the government ratified the protocol, it would have to
\nconsult with the public to formulate regulations on the treatment
\nof GMOs, Tejo said.<\/p>\n
The government also needed to strengthen the agencies that
\nwould be involved in regulating GMO research and use, he said.<\/p>\n
This would need to be done at both national and regional
\nlevels, he said.<\/p>\n
5. Witness 2 x 24<\/p>\n
Terror suspects pushed to
\ntestify in Ba'asyir trial<\/p>\n
Police are trying to convince seven detained terrorist suspects
\nto testify at the planned trial of Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, a cleric
\nalso detained for alleged terrorist activities.<\/p>\n
Police chief of detectives Comr. Gen. Suyitno Landung Sudjono
\nsaid on Tuesday that police were trying to link Dahlan and six
\nother terrorist suspects arrested in Surakarta, Central Java last
\nweek to Ba'asyir, so that they could testify at his trial.<\/p>\n
\"We are still interrogating them in Central Java and Bali.
\nDahlan was involved in planning an attack on the JW Marriott
\nHotel, while the six others were accused of involvement in the
\nMarriott and Bali bombings. We will find a link between Ba'asyir
\nand the seven,\" said Suyitno.<\/p>\n
Police named Ba'asyir a terrorist suspect on April 16 and
\ncharged him under Articles 14, 15, 17 and 18 of Law No. 15\/2003
\non terrorism for planning, coercing, abetting and perpetrating
\nterrorist attacks. He could face the death sentence if convicted.<\/p>\n
Suyitno said earlier that as the spiritual leader of Jamaah
\nIslamiyah (JI), Ba'asyir was responsible for planning bomb
\nattacks in the country between 1999 and 2002.<\/p>\n
JI is a UN-listed terrorist organization blamed for the Oct.
\n12, 2002 Bali bombings and the Aug. 5, 2003 JW Marriott Hotel
\nattack in Jakarta.<\/p>\n
National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said in Semarang last
\nweek that the six played a central role in planning and preparing
\nboth attacks, in which over two hundred people were killed and
\nhundreds of others injured.<\/p>\n
He said it had also been revealed that the six were involved
\nin the planning of the attack on the United Nations building in
\n2003.<\/p>\n
Da'i clarified on Friday last week that they were all members
\nof the JI.<\/p>\n
Police said one of the six suspects, identified by his
\ninitials US, was a citizen of a neighboring country. The
\nremaining suspects were identified as AD, BA, MT, UM, and FH.<\/p>\n
Ba'asyir's case file was submitted to the Jakarta prosecutor's
\noffice two weeks ago. Police said that they found new evidence
\nthat the cleric was behind a series of bombings that rocked the
\ncountry since 1999.<\/p>\n
Director of the police's antiterror division Brig. Gen.
\nPranowo said Ba'asyir would be tried soon, as the prosecutor's
\noffice had confirmed that his case file was complete.<\/p>\n
\"However, we don't want to be in too much of a hurry because
\nwe want to gather as much evidence as possible -- we still have
\ntime,\" said Pranowo.<\/p>\n
Ba'asyir was tried last year but prosecutors failed to prove
\nhis involvement in terrorist activities. However, he was
\nsentenced to prison for immigration offenses and document
\nforgery. He was rearrested shortly after his release in April,
\ntriggering a violent clash between his supporters and police.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/1-puteh-3-x-10-1447899208",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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