Prosecutors question police methods in Newmont probe<\/p>\n
Abdul Khalik and Jongker Rumteh, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta\/Manado<\/p>\n
The North Sulawesi Prosecutor's Office asked the police to seek
\nfurther verification from scientific experts about the
\nmethodology that was used by the police lab to conclude that
\nBuyat Bay in Minahasa, North Sulawesi was heavily polluted.<\/p>\n
The office's spokesman Herlie Robert Ilat said prosecutors
\nhandling the pollution allegation against the local subsidiary of
\ngiant American mining firm Newmont, had returned the case file to
\nthe National Police after two weeks of study.<\/p>\n
\"There are 13 items that the police must explain, including
\nthe validity of the method used and samples taken during data
\ncollection,\" said Robert.<\/p>\n
The National Police's investigators conducted research at the
\nbay in August and tested the samples in a forensic laboratory in
\nJakarta. The test results they came up with concluded that the
\nheavy metal content in the water far exceeded all legal
\nstandards.<\/p>\n
The police named five executives of PT Newmont Minahasa Raya
\nmining company -- American Bill Long, Australian Phil Turner, and
\nthree Indonesians David Sompie, Jerry Kojansow, and Putra Jayatri
\n-- suspects and jailed them on Sept. 22. They are still in
\ncustody, but no charges have been laid. The company's president
\nRichard B. Ness was also declared a suspect, but was not detained
\ndue to health concerns.<\/p>\n
The police said they had followed scientific procedures in
\ncollecting the samples, but never explained publicly how they
\nconducted their research, which differs greatly from the
\nconclusions of other researchers, both local and international.<\/p>\n
A number of scientists questioned the way the police collected
\nsamples, demanding that the police explain it to other scientists
\nfor verification.<\/p>\n
Some experts have speculated that the police may have actually
\nmeasured the amount of metals using a different method from the
\none called for in Ministerial Decree No. 51\/2004, which could
\nhave led to the great differences vis a vis the tests conducted
\nby several other scientific institutions.<\/p>\n
The latest test was conducted by the Australia-based
\nCommonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization
\n(CSIRO) that found no heavy metal pollution in Buyat Bay. It also
\nsaid the fish tissue metal concentration was at a normal level.<\/p>\n
\"When the CSIRO report is combined with the results of the
\nWHO\/Minamata Institute report and the recently released
\nIndonesian Government's Integrated Team report, the data provides
\nan extensive picture of the environment and irrefutable
\nscientific evidence that there is no pollution in the bay,\"
\nNewmont said in a press release on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, several non-governmental organizations (NGO) urged
\nthe police to investigate the motive behind a move by former
\nenvironment minister Nabiel Makarim to release a report dated
\nOct. 14, which said the bay was not polluted.<\/p>\n
The Environmental Forum on Indonesia (Walhi), the Mining
\nAdvocacy Network (Jatam) and the Indonesia Center for
\nEnvironmental Law (ICEL) said in their joint statement that the
\npolice should also investigate Newmont for placing advertisements
\nin several media to tell the public there was no pollution in
\nBuyat Bay.<\/p>\n
\"The use of test results from WHO and the Institute for
\nMinamata Disease in the advertisements is misleading because the
\nresearch only measured the mercury level. In fact, mercury is not
\nthe only source of pollution,\" Raja Siregar of Walhi said.<\/p>\n
A government-sanctioned joint team has conducted tests to
\nverify reports of pollution in the bay. It is set to announce the
\ntest results soon.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/prosecutors-question-police-methods-in-newmont-probe-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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