AGO soon to summon Ginandjar

AGO soon to summon Ginandjar

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Attorney General's Office is scheduled to question witnesses
in the US$24.8 million scandal on Monday involving former
minister of mines and energy Ginandjar Kartasasmita.

The Office's spokesman Barman Zahir told reporters on Friday
that a joint team of investigators has sent summonses to four
witnesses to be questioned on Monday.

They are former director for exploration and production at
state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina Priambodo Mulyo
Sudirdjo; Pertamina staff Yus Ruswaya; former director general
for oil and gas at the Ministry of Mines and Energy Sujitno
Padmosutrisno; and the ministry's expert Ramses Oktavianus
Hutapea.

"The joint team will start to summon the suspects after
questioning witnesses," Barman said.

Ginandjar, his successor I.B. Sudjana, former Pertamina
president Faisal Abda'oe, and PT Ustraindo Petro Gas director
Praptono H. Tjitrohupojo, have been accused of breaching the law
in a deal that had allegedly caused a total of $24.8 million in
losses to the state.

The case revolves around Ginandjar's approval of four
technical assistance contracts between Pertamina and PT Ustraindo
in 1992 and 1993 which covered oil fields that were still
productive at the time.

Moreover, while regulations required PT Ustraindo to pay the
costs of oil development in the contract areas, it was Pertamina
who actually bore the costs.

Sudjana approved amendments to the contracts with PT Ustraindo
in 1995, which resulted in a smaller government oil take.

The Supreme Court ordered a joint team of state and military
prosecutors to investigate the case because Ginandjar, who is a
retired three-star Vice Air Marshall, was a serving military
officer at the time in question.