Bob Hasan faces life sentence over alleged scam<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Timber baron Muhamad \"Bob\" Hasan looked
\ndiminutive in his seat on Wednesday as he faced a possible life
\nsentence after being accused by prosecutors of scamming millions
\nof dollars from the state and the Association of Indonesian
\nForest Concessionaires (APHI).<\/p>\n
Chief prosecutor Arnold Angkouw kicked off the hearing,
\naccusing the defendant of defrauding the state of US$75.62
\nmillion, and APHI of another Rp 168 million through an allegedly
\nfraudulent aerial mapping project.<\/p>\n
\"The defendant is in violation of Paragraph 1a of Article 1 of
\nthe 1971 Anticorruption Law, for enriching himself at the state's
\nexpense,\" Arnold told presiding judge Subardi during Wednesday's
\npacked hearing at the Central Jakarta District Court.<\/p>\n
The article carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.<\/p>\n
The charges were made in a 52-page indictment. The dossier of
\nthe case runs to over 5,000 pages.<\/p>\n
\"Between 1989 and 1999, the defendant, as APHI chief, awarded
\na mapping project without the consent of APHI members, to a
\ncompany, with the condition that he would become the company's
\nmajor shareholder. He ended up owning the company,\" Arnold said.<\/p>\n
The company, PT Adikarto Printindo (AP), eventually became
\nknown as PT Mapindo Parama (MP).<\/p>\n
But chief defense lawyer Augustinus Hutajulu was defiant,
\nsaying the indictment was incomplete.<\/p>\n
\"I'll present my objections to this case at the next hearing,
\nscheduled for Sept. 27. The indictment was not drawn out clearly
\nand still has holes,\" Augustinus told The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
Security was tight at the court session. A combined force of
\nover 200 policemen from the Central Jakarta Police, the Jakarta
\nPolice and the National Police's Mobile Brigade (Brimob) secured
\nthe district court.<\/p>\n
Bob Hasan, PT Mapindo Parama (MP) executive director Asmaning
\nTjipto Witnjoprajitno, deputy chairman Tahir and director Herman
\nHidayat are accused of enriching themselves through PT Mapindo
\nParama, which caused losses to the state.<\/p>\n
According to the indictment, on April 27, 1989, without
\ncalling an executive board meeting, Hasan, as head of APHI,
\nsigned an agreement -- No. 075\/8\/APHI\/Pusat\/0489 -- with the
\npresident of PT Adikarto Printindo (AP) Bambang Riyadi Sugomo,
\ngranting PT AP the mapping project.<\/p>\n
The project involved the taking of aerial photographs of
\nforest concessions belonging to 599 companies holding forest
\nutilization licenses (HPH).<\/p>\n
On May 1, 1989, Bob Hasan became a shareholder of PT AP and
\nbought Rp 1.020 billion worth of shares, making him the company's
\nmajor shareholder. He later took over full ownership of the
\ncompany.<\/p>\n
According to the indictment, once the defendant owned PT AP,
\nhe changed its name to PT Mapindo Parama (MP), on Feb. 18, 1991.<\/p>\n
He failed to update the initial work agreement he signed with
\nBambang, in which the company name was still PT Adikarto
\nPrintindo.<\/p>\n
As APHI chief, Bob Hasan and APHI deputy chief Tahir then
\napproved the transfer of $12.95 million from APHI to the bank
\naccount of PT MP, as payment for the mapping project.<\/p>\n
The first two transfers of funds were made to an account at
\nBank Umum Nasional (BUN), on Jan. 2, 1995 and Jan. 25, 1995,
\ndespite the fact that the agreement was made with PT Adikarto
\nPrintindo, not PT Mapindo Parama.<\/p>\n
Between 1991 and 1998, Asmaning and Tahir agreed to transfer
\n$134.075 million from APHI to three different accounts, as
\npayment for the mapping project, belonging to PT MP.<\/p>\n
The project involved the mapping and shooting of aerial
\nphotographs of 88.63 million hectares of forest concessions,
\nbelonging to 599 concessionaires.<\/p>\n
However, the permit issued by the Ministry of Forestry was for
\nthe mapping and shooting of aerial photographs for concessions
\nbelonging to only 81 of the 599 companies, or 8.85 million
\nhectares of forest concessions.<\/p>\n
The indictment says that despite the payments made to PT MP,
\nthe defendant did not hand over the aerial photographs or the
\nmaps drawn in the project to the remaining 518 companies with
\nHPHs.<\/p>\n
The indictment states that as the major shareholder of PT AP,
\nwhich later became PT MP, it was the defendant's duty to make
\nsure permits were arranged for the mapping project, involving all
\n599 companies, as according to agreement No.
\n075\/8\/APHI\/Pusat\/0489. (ylt)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/bob-hasan-faces-life-sentence-over-alleged-scam-1447893297",
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