Two suspects named in reforestation fund fraud<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): On Friday The Attorney General's Office named
\ntwo suspects who allegedly misused Rp 23.3 billion of
\nreforestation funds and abused government properties.<\/p>\n
Attorney General Marzuki Darusman said that former secretary
\ngeneral at the ministry of forestry and plantations Sudjono
\nSuryo, and the president director of aircraft rental company PT
\nGatari Hutama Air Service, Kabul Riswanto, were main suspects in
\nthe graft case.<\/p>\n
\"More suspects could be named depending on our investigation
\ninto the two men,\" Marzuki said on Friday after a meeting with
\nthe National Ombudsman Committee members.<\/p>\n
He was responding to rumors that Soeharto's youngest son
\nHutomo Mandala Putra, who is the Gatari president commissioner,
\ncould be involved in the alleged corruption case.<\/p>\n
Marzuki added the suspects would be detained if they tried to
\nflee or destroy evidence.<\/p>\n
The case is one of many corruption cases reported by the
\nministry's secretary-general Suripto as part of its efforts to
\nrecover massive amounts of misused reforestation funds and to
\neradicate corruption in the office.<\/p>\n
PT Gatari had been granted a five-year contract in 1990 to
\nmaintain the ministry's 12 helicopters produced by the state
\naircraft manufacturer PT Industri Pesawat Terbang Nusantara
\n(IPTN).<\/p>\n
The contract allowed Gatari to lease the helicopters with the
\nministry's consent.<\/p>\n
The ministry claimed it was charged Rp 7.2 billion by Gatari
\nfor using its own helicopters during the period of the contract.
\nGatari was also accused of marking up the expenses for repairs
\nand spare parts that cost the ministry Rp 12.4 billion. The
\nministry paid the expenses using reforestation funds.<\/p>\n
Along with poor repairs, the ministry claimed that the company
\nhad so far been unable to return four out of the 12 state-owned
\nhelicopters.<\/p>\n
The ministry had initially set a deadline of February 1999 for
\nthe helicopters to be handed over. (01)<\/p>",
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