Ex-forestry ministers scheduled to testify<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Former forestry ministers Hasjrul Harahap and
\nDjamaludin Suryohadikusumo are scheduled to testify as witnesses
\non Thursday in the multimillion dollar graft trial of timber
\nbaron Mohamad \"Bob\" Hasan at the Central Jakarta District Court.<\/p>\n
\"They will get their chance to tell their side of the story.
\nWhat prosecutors want to know is what were the roles they played
\nin the case,\" chief prosecutor Arnold Angkouw told The Jakarta
\nPost on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\"Former officials testified in the initial court session that
\nbased on the recommendations of these two ministers, the ministry
\nawarded the defendant's company with two different mapping
\nprojects, both of which were fraudulent.\"<\/p>\n
Arnold was referring to the indictment that defendant Hasan
\nhad defrauded the state of US$75.62 million and the Association
\nof Indonesian Forest Concessionaires (APHI) of another $168
\nmillion through two fraudulent aerial mapping projects.<\/p>\n
The first project in 1989 involved the mapping and shooting of
\naerial photographs of 88.63 million hectares of forest
\nconcessions, belonging to 599 concessionaires.<\/p>\n
The defendant, who chaired APHI from 1989 to 1998, initially
\ngranted this project to PT Adikarto Printindo (AP) in 1989, a
\nfirm whose shares he eventually bought in full and whose name he
\nchanged to PT Mapindo Parama (MP) in 1991.<\/p>\n
The former director general of forestry inventory and
\nplanning, Soenarsan Sastrodimitro, told an initial court hearing
\nthat he had done his best to coax Hasjrul -- who served as a
\nminister in former president Soeharto's fifth development Cabinet
\nfrom 1988 to 1993 -- to grant the project to more than one firm.<\/p>\n
\"Hasjrul Harahap ordered me to recommend only one firm -- the
\ndefendant's firm -- for the project, despite the firm's obvious
\ninability to complete the project single-handedly,\" the witness,
\nwho served from February 1989 until June 1993, told the hearing.<\/p>\n
Hasan, witnesses said, granted the project to Adikarto
\nPrintindo without the presence of other APHI executive board
\nmembers, which was a requirement in any decision taken by APHI.<\/p>\n
Another violation of the law, prosecutors pointed out, was
\nthat the permit issued by the Ministry of Forestry for the 1989
\nproject was only for the mapping and shooting of aerial
\nphotographs of concessions belonging to 81 of the 599 companies,
\nor 8.85 million hectares of forest concessions.<\/p>\n
The rest were never authorized by a forestry ministry permit.<\/p>\n
\"Adikarto Printindo was only one firm. I recommended 18
\nreputable consulting firms, including Printindo, (to the
\nminister), but the minister picked only Printindo,\" Soenarsan
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
The second project, which was begun in 1996, was worth $87
\nmillion and involved shooting aerial photographs of 30.6 million
\nhectares of protected forests nationwide.<\/p>\n
Another former director general of forestry inventory and
\nplanning, Sumahadi, said at Tuesday's hearing that the project
\nwas awarded to PT Mapindo Parama, on former forestry minister
\nDjamaludin's recommendation to former president Soeharto.<\/p>\n
Mapindo Parama, after having received the $87 million as
\npayment for the project, he said, provided the ministry with old
\naerial photographs, dating back to 1992, of two million hectares
\nof the total 30.6 million.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors have charged that the old photographs were of
\nforest concessions -- not protected forests -- taken by the
\ndefendant's firm during its work for the 1989 mapping project.<\/p>\n
Sumahadi also said he had accepted the old aerial photographs
\n-- which led to the disbursement of $87 million of reforestation
\nfunds as payment for Mapindo Parama -- because he considered the
\nphotos \"technically usable\". (ylt)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/ex-forestry-ministers-scheduled-to-testify-1447893297",
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