Probe into Akbar's graft case together<\/p>\n
Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The investigation by the Attorney General's Office into the
\nhigh profile graft scandal involving House of Representatives
\nSpeaker Akbar Tandjung may have to start from zero thanks to
\nconflicting and sometimes groundless arguments during
\nexamination.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, Dadang Sukandar, chairman of the Raudlatul
\nJannah Foundation, which was appointed to spend the Rp 40 billion
\n(US$4 million) belonging to the State Logistics Agency (Bulog),
\nstrongly challenged investigators' claims that food distribution
\nin its project for the needy in 1999 never took place.<\/p>\n
The Attorney General's Office said on Tuesday that there was
\nno evidence to indicate that food had been disbursed to the
\npeople in five Java provinces whose names were on a list given by
\nthen-coordinator ministry of people's welfare and poverty
\nalleviation Haryono Suyono.<\/p>\n
But the random sampling by the investigators in their latest
\nfield check was not enough to cover the flow of the funds used to
\nfinance the project, Dadang insisted.<\/p>\n
Dadang, one of the suspects in the scandal, which also
\nincluded Akbar, explained that not all residents in the 1,537
\nregencies targeted under the project received the food packages.<\/p>\n
He claimed that the packages were handed directly to the
\nrecipients without any help from local administrations, as
\nrequired in national social safety net programs to expedite the
\nprocess.<\/p>\n
\"The investigators' finding cannot show that we didn't use the
\nmoney to distribute the food. Maybe they interviewed those who
\ndidn't receive the packages because, on average, 80 percent of
\nresidents in one regency didn't get them,\" he said at a press
\nconference.<\/p>\n
\"We called the investigators to help us formulate a proper
\nmethod to prove the use of the money,\" Dadang said.<\/p>\n
Dadang stressed that the whole operation was not under the
\ngovernment's full control, since it had become the foundation's
\nproject.<\/p>\n
Over 1.6 million brown boxes were provided, each filled with
\nfive kilograms of rice, eight packages of instant noodles, one
\nkilogram of sugar, and one medium-sized bottle of soy sauce,
\naccording to Dadang.<\/p>\n
\"I entrusted the entire distribution process to the project
\nofficer, who was also the vice chairman, Dadi Surjadi,\" Dadang
\nsaid. \"But he's dead now.\"<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/probe-into-akbars-graft-case-together-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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