Prosecutors fail to get more info from Habibie<\/p>\n
Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
State prosecutors have wasted two important days in their efforts
\nto unveil the alleged misuse of Rp 40 billion in State Logistics
\nAgency (Bulog) funds involving former state secretary Akbar
\nTandjung as they failed to expose the underlying political links
\nbetween key witness former president B.J. Habibie and the
\nsuspect.<\/p>\n
The Attorney General's Office prosecutors completed their
\nquestioning of Habibie on Tuesday and will now examine his
\naccounts.<\/p>\n
The office spokesman Barman Zahir told reporters after the
\nfour-hour questioning session on Tuesday that the 10 questions
\nposed to Habibie were aimed only at verifying his answers given
\nduring Monday's session.<\/p>\n
"The investigators were satisfied with the questioning of
\nHabibie," Barman said.<\/p>\n
In the questioning, Habibie confirmed that the government's
\nproject to disburse food for the poor in 1999, which used the
\nBulog funds, was part of the social safety net program.<\/p>\n
Lawyer Yan Djuanda Saputra told reporters that Akbar was
\ninstructed to use the funds properly in accordance with existing
\nregulations.<\/p>\n
Such regulations related to the project, the investigators
\nrevealed, included Presidential Decree No. 190\/1998 on the
\norganizing of a task force to implement the social safety net
\nprogram and Law No. 20\/1997 on non-taxable state revenue.<\/p>\n
The presidential decree delegates the authority to organize
\nthe programs to the minister of finance and the coordinating
\nminister for people's welfare and poverty eradication without
\ninvolving the Akbar's office of the cabinet secretary.<\/p>\n
However, the investigators failed to pursue the fact that
\nHabibie violated his own decree by assigning Akbar to manage the
\nproject instead of the related ministers who were also in
\nattendance in the Feb. 10, 1999 meeting when the former president
\noutlined the policy.<\/p>\n
The alleged scam came months before the general election, in
\nwhich the Akbar-led Golkar party nominated Habibie for president.<\/p>\n
Habibie claimed that he never received a report on the project
\nand insisted that Akbar submit one. However, Yan Djuanda said,
\nHabibie did not consider that Akbar had done anything wrong in
\nrunning the project.<\/p>\n
The investigators have named Akbar, who is the current speaker
\nof House of Representatives, as a suspect in the case, after
\ninvestigators found no proof of such a food distribution project
\nwhich was supposedly carried out in five provinces in Java.<\/p>\n
Akbar's appointees to run the project: Raudlatul Jannah
\nFoundation chairman Dadang Sukandar and his contractor Winfried
\nSimatupang have also been named suspects.<\/p>\n
Investigators also questioned Dadang and Winfried on Tuesday.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/prosecutors-fail-to-get-more-info-from-habibie-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }