AGO slaps travel ban on APHI suspects

Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Attorney General's Office slapped a travel ban on Thursday on four suspects in the alleged misuse of Rp 268 billion (US$29.7 million) and US$4 million in funds belonging to the Indonesian Forestry Association (APHI).

Two of the suspects, former APHI chairman Adiwarsita Adinegoro and deputy chairman Abdul Fatah were taken into the prosecutors' custody on Wednesday night, while the association's treasurer, Yusran Syarief, and deputy treasurer Zein Ma'ruf remain at large.

Spokesman for the Attorney General's Office RJ Soehandojo told The Jakarta Post on Thursday that Zein had submitted a letter from a doctor at Pondok Indah hospital stating that he was ill, while Yusran had requested the postponement of his questioning due to his daughter's wedding.

"We'll start questioning the two suspects (Zein and Yusran) early next month. We have informed the immigration office of the travel ban," Soehandojo said.

Adiwarsita, a House of Representatives legislator from the powerful Golkar Party, allegedly misused the funds during his term as APHI chairman from 1998 to 2003. Prosecutors accused him of ordering a transfer of Rp 10 billion to a man identified as Imam Kuntjoro and a donation of Rp 11.125 billion to the Raudlatul Jannah foundation. The expenditures were not in line with APHI rules.

The Raudlatul Jannah foundation is linked to a graft case that brought former House speaker and Golkar leader Akbar Tandjung to court last year. The foundation was appointed by Akbar to distribute staple food for the poor in 1999, a charity program that was proven fictitious.

The Central Jakarta District Court convicted Akbar, Raudlatul Jannah chairman Dadang Iskandar and businessman Winfried Simatupang in the case, but, early this year, the Supreme Court acquitted Akbar.

Attorney General Abdul Rahman Saleh was the Supreme Court justice who upheld the lower court's verdict, while the other four were of the opinion that the then Golkar leader was not guilty.

Akbar lost the party's top post last week to Vice President Jusuf Kalla.

The APHI case could lead to the reopening of the scandal involving Akbar.

Adiwarsita's lawyer Adnan Buyung Nasution regretted his client's detention, saying the Attorney General's Office was seeking credit from the President, who is putting the anticorruption drive at the top of his priority list.

The lawyer later told Adiwarsita, the son of national press figure the late Adinegoro, not to cooperate with prosecutors during the interrogation.

Soehandojo said the APHI scandal was among top priority cases his office was investigating. Other cases include alleged corruption involving Indonesian Distribution Cooperatives chairman Nurdin Halid and irregularities in the privatization of state seaport operator Pelindo II, which implicate former state minister of state enterprises Tanri Abeng.