Ex-minister takes stand in Goro case<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Former minister of cooperatives and small
\nenterprises Subiakto Tjakrawerdaya testified at the South Jakarta
\nDistrict Court on Wednesday that he agreed to a proposed
\ncooperation between the nation's cooperatives and wholesaler PT
\nGoro Batara Sakti.<\/p>\n
\"It was simply due to the fact that only Goro offered us the
\nopportunity to participate in the wholesale business. We (the
\ncooperatives) long wanted to enter the wholesale business,\"
\nSubiakto said in the trial of Goro's former president Ricardo
\nGelael.<\/p>\n
He said the relationship between the cooperatives, which were
\nunder his ministry's supervision, and Goro ran well.<\/p>\n
But he denied knowing about a land deal between PT Goro Batara
\nSakti and the State Logistics Agency (Bulog).<\/p>\n
Also charged were Goro's former president commissioner Hutomo
\n\"Tommy\" Mandala Putra and Bulog's former chief Beddu Amang.<\/p>\n
The prosecutor said the three defendants caused the state Rp
\n95 billion losses through the land deal made between Goro and
\nBulog.<\/p>\n
The prosecutor said Goro illegally exchanged Bulog's
\nwarehousing complex in Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta, with a piece
\nof land in Marunda in the same mayoralty.<\/p>\n
Beddu's indictment was thrown out of court on a legal
\ntechnicality. The prosecutor failed to gain President B.J.
\nHabibie's approval for the indictment, which was required because
\nBeddu remains a legislator.<\/p>\n
Last week, two witnesses -- Ken Laksono, former finance
\ndirector of wholesale firm PT Goro Batara Sakti, and businessman
\nHokiarto -- told the same court that the appropriation of a 71-
\nhectare plot of land in Marunda, North Jakarta, had not yet been
\ncompleted.<\/p>\n
\"The land appropriation in Marunda was still being processed
\nwhen the deal between Goro and the State Logistics Agency (Bulog)
\nto exchange land was signed in 1997,\" Laksono, who was presented
\nby the prosecutors to testify against defendant Tommy, said.<\/p>\n
Tommy, Beddu and Ricardo were charged under Article 1 (1a) of
\nCorruption Law No. 3\/1971 which carries a maximum punishment of
\nlife imprisonment and a Rp 30 million fine.(jun)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/ex-minister-takes-stand-in-goro-case-1447893297",
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