PLN corruption case may be dropped: Hendarman<\/p>\n
Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post\/Jakarta<\/p>\n
Prosecutors may have to drop an investigation into alleged
\ngraft in state electricity company PLN in a case that some said
\ncould involve a member of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's
\nCabinet.<\/p>\n
Deputy Attorney General for Special Crimes Hendarman Supandji
\nsaid that his team was now reviewing the case to see whether it
\nshould proceed with the investigation or not after the government
\nissued a certificate stating that no state losses had resulted
\nfrom the alleged graft.<\/p>\n
\"The Attorney General handed me a certificate from the
\ngovernment stating that no losses had been inflicted on the state
\nin this case as the distribution of the bonus was agreed to by
\nthe shareholders meeting,\" Hendarman told lawmakers during a
\nhearing with the House of Representatives' legal affairs
\ncommission.<\/p>\n
The PLN case centered on the distribution of total bonuses
\nworth some Rp 4.3 billion (US$430,000) to the members of the
\nboards of directors and commissioners in 2003, when the company
\nsuffered a loss of about Rp 3 billion.<\/p>\n
The PLN labor union lambasted the bonus policy, accusing PLN's
\ntop management of corruption and of violating Law No. 19\/2003 on
\nstate-owned enterprises, which bans the boards of state firms
\nfrom distributing bonuses in circumstances where their companies
\nare not in profit.<\/p>\n
Top PLN officials have denied the accusations, saying that the
\npolicy was approved by the shareholders.<\/p>\n
Groups of students have staged street rallies amid signs that
\nthe government was slowing down the investigation into the
\nalleged graft case.<\/p>\n
Hendarman had previously told the press that his prosecutors
\nhad already identified three PLN officials as potential suspects
\nin the case. But he never announced their names.<\/p>\n
Hendarman said on Thursday he had not announced their names as
\nthe Attorney General's Office had to be very careful in
\ndisclosing the names of suspects.<\/p>\n
He also said that another reason that had prompted him to
\nreview the case was the fact that even some members of the PLN
\nlabor union believed that the bonus policy was lawful and was not
\ntainted by corruption as it had been approved by the
\nshareholders.<\/p>\n
They argued that since PLN is a limited liability company, the
\ncase needed to be dealt with using the Limited Liability
\nCompanies Law (No. 1\/1995), instead of the State Enterprises Law.<\/p>\n
However, the chairman of PLN labor union, Ahmad Darjoko, said
\nhe believed that political pressure had been brought to bear in
\nthis case as the AGO had decided not to announce the names of the
\nsuspects just a few weeks after Hendarman promised to do so.<\/p>",
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