AGO seeks permission to summon Akbar

AGO seeks permission to summon Akbar

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Attorney General's Office will submit a request to
President Megawati Soekarnoputri on Monday seeking her permission
to summon and question House of Representatives (DPR) Speaker
Akbar Tandjung over his alleged role in a graft case involving
State Logistics Agency (Bulog) funds.

Akbar's involvement in the Rp 40 billion Bulog scam was
alleged by a suspect in the case, former minister of trade and
also former Bulog chief Rahardi Ramelan.

"We will initiate the probe into this case soon, but we have
to ask the President's permission first since he (Akbar) is the
House speaker," Attorney General M.A. Rachman said as quoted by
Antara on Friday.

Rahardi said that out of total Bulog non-budgetary funds of Rp
54.6 billion, some Rp 40 billion was allocated for the Social
Safety Net (JPS) program through the State Secretariat. Akbar was
state secretary during former president B.J. Habibie's tenure in
1999.

Meanwhile, a representative of the Coalition of Non-
Governmental Organizations said on Friday that the latest Bulog
scam, allegedly involving Akbar and the Golkar party, constituted
only a small portion of the mammoth graft plaguing Bulog during
Rahardi Ramelan's time in office.

Teten Masduki of Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) said that
the money was used to finance the efforts to keep former
president B.J. Habibie in power through a special session of the
People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) in 1999.

Teten pointed out that during Habibie's administration,
various efforts had been made to protect his presidency,
including asking the House to enact a decree banning
demonstrations and to form a civilian militia, popularly known as
Pam Swakarsa, which was staunchly supported by former Indonesian
Military (TNI) chief Gen. (ret) Wiranto.

"This is not merely a personal case, but is an abuse of power
perpetrated by the Habibie regime against its own people," Teten
told a press conference at ICW headquarters.

Teten made the remarks on behalf of his colleagues from the
Indonesia Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI), International NGO Forum
for Indonesian Development (INFID), Indonesian Institute for the
Environment (Walhi), People's Network for Development
Accountability and Transparency (JARI), Indonesian Human Rights
and Legal Aid Association, Public Study and Advocacy Institute
(ELSAM), Judicial Watch and the Indonesian Consumers' Foundation
(YLKI).

The NGOs said in a statement distributed to reporters that the
Bulog funds that had not been accounted for during Rahardi's time
in office were estimated at about Rp 102.41 billion.

This figure was obtained from the State Audit Agency which
audited Bulog's financial statements in April 1999 and May 2000.
The audit agency learned that the money in Bulog's non-budgetary
accounts had disappeared without any receipts being issued.

Voicing the NGO coalition's demands, Teten urged the House to
establish a special commission to thoroughly audit Bulog's non-
budgetary funds.

"I believe that there will turn out to be more former state
officials involved in this case," Teten said.