Evidence on Bulog case incomplete: Marzuki<\/p>\n
Yogita Tahilramani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Former attorney general Marzuki Darusman suggested that the
\nHouse of Representatives gather all necessary evidence in
\nconnection with the alleged misuse of funds from the State
\nLogistics Agency (Bulog) to enable a formal investigation.<\/p>\n
Marzuki said on Friday that when he was attorney general in
\n2000, he only received notes of meetings involving the House's
\nCommission III, which had formed a team to look into the alleged
\nmisuse of funds.<\/p>\n
He said he received the notes from Widjanarko Puspojo, who was
\nat the time the deputy chief of the commission, which oversees
\nBulog, forestry and agricultural affairs, and is the current
\nBulog chief.<\/p>\n
\"Those notes were incomplete and were given to me simply on
\nthe basis of sharing information. It was unofficial and the
\nAttorney General's Office could not legally take any action
\nthen,\" Marzuki recalled.<\/p>\n
The materials, Marzuki added, were obtained from the Supreme
\nAudit Agency (BPK) and the Development Finance Comptroller
\n(BPKP). Those reports also should have gone to other state
\ninstitutions, including the National Police, according to
\nMarzuki.<\/p>\n
\"When Widjanarko was named Bulog chief, he reportedly
\ncompleted the research into the alleged corrupted funds and found
\nthat since 1994, some Rp 2.6 trillion had been allegedly used
\n(illegally). For instance, the money was invested in firms of
\nformer president Soeharto, his family and his friends,\" Marzuki
\ntold The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
He was responding to reports from the House commission and the
\nIndonesian Corruption Watch that hundreds of billions of rupiah
\nfrom Bulog's non-budgetary funds were embezzled between January
\n1998 and December 1999. Both institutions based their reports on
\nthe findings of the BPKP.<\/p>\n
Attorney General's Office spokesman Barman Zahir said on
\nThursday his office could only trace corrupted funds based on
\nhard evidence.<\/p>\n
\"It is not possible for us to act simply on people's words or
\nincomplete evidence,\" Barman said.<\/p>\n
BPKP launched a special investigation into Bulog's activities
\non Oct. 21, 1998, responding to significant discrepancies BPKP
\nhad discovered in books kept by Bulog, specifically in regard to
\nits non-budgetary funds.<\/p>\n
In report No. 02.03.02-300\/D VII.2\/2000, dated May 23, 2000,
\nBPKP said it suspended the special inquiry in May 1999 after then
\nBulog chief Rahardi Ramelan refused to provide more data at the
\nrequest of president B.J. Habibie.<\/p>\n
The inquiry resumed with a different team in July 1999, \"due
\nto a trend of change in the government\".<\/p>\n
The subsequent 36-page report, signed by BPKP special
\nmonitoring director Nasib Padmomihardjo, notes that apart from
\nthe non-budgetary funds that went to Rahardi and the family of
\nSoeharto and their foundations, the alleged misuse of Rp 65
\nbillion also was found \"in the implementation of the importation
\nof groundnuts\".<\/p>\n
Two 1997 decrees issued by the minister of finance stated that
\nin order to maintain price stability, Bulog was exempt from
\nimport taxes and value-added taxes at the government's expense in
\nthe importation of 300,000 tons of groundnuts.<\/p>\n
BPKP found evidence that Bulog transferred these \"rights\" to
\nprivate parties for a substantial fee of Rp 10.6 billion. The
\nrights were then resold by private parties, working in
\ncollaboration with Bulog, to a third party, causing Rp 65 billion
\nin state losses.<\/p>\n
The report found that violations also were committed by Bulog
\nin actions taken to stabilize cooking oil prices. The actions
\nwere financed by Bank Indonesia with a 12 percent interest rate,
\nwhich was fully the responsibility of the state.<\/p>\n
One major violation was Bulog's direct appointment of PT Salim
\nOil Grain, without an open tender, to distribute cooking oil. The
\nstate's losses in this instance were estimated at Rp 2.1 billion.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/evidence-on-bulog-case-incomplete-marzuki-1447893297",
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