AGO to bring Pertamina graft cases to court

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Attorney General's Office will start submitting graft cases in the state-owned oil and gas firm Pertamina to court this week following the House of Representatives' announcement of the names of alleged big-fish corruptors last week.

Spokesman for the office Antasari Azhar said on Sunday that state prosecutors would first file indictments against former Pertamina exploration and refining director Thabrani Ismail for his alleged involvement in a massive mark-up during the construction of the Balongan oil refinery in Indramayu, West Java. The construction lasted from 1990 to 1995.

"We are filing the Thabrani prosecution first in the hope that during his trial we can uncover further evidence against the other suspects," Antasari told the Jakarta Post.

According to Antasari, it could take state prosecutors many years to submit the indictments on all the suspects to the court.

Thabrani is currently in Salemba prison in the custody of the Attorney General's Office.

Antasari did not elaborate on the charges to be laid against Thabrani.

State prosecutors are still investigating cases involving former coordinating minister for the economy Radius Prawiro, former minister of mines and energy Ginandjar Kartasasmita, and former specialist in the Office of State Minister for Research and Technology Kho Khian Kho, for their roles in the Balongan graft case.

They are among those who were allegedly involved in marking up the value of the Balongan project from US$1.6 billion to around $1.8 billion, causing state losses amounting to $185.58 million and Rp 14.5 billion.

Other names implicated in the case are former minister of mines and energy Soebroto, Ping Tamanis -- now a Singaporean citizen -- and Eri Odang, who now resides in the United States. Ping and Eri have both been declared suspects.

The Balongan refinery mark-up was one of a number of corruption-riddled projects made public by the House last Friday. A special committee set up by the House to investigate corruption involving Pertamina revealed in its report that a number of former ministers, cronies and members of former president Soeharto's family were involved.

They included former state minister of technology B. J. Habibie, former minister of mines Soebroto, Radius, Ginanjar, Soeharto's business associate Mohamad "Bob" Hasan, the former president's sons Bambang Trihatmodjo and Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra and daughter Siti Hardiyanti "Tutut" Rukmana.

The House said Ginanjar, who is now the People's Consultative Assembly deputy speaker representing Golkar, and Supraptono were also involved in corruption involving a technical assistance contract (TAC). Both have been declared suspects.

The committee also said that in the Perta Oil graft case, two of those involved were Bob Hasan and Soeharto's jailed youngest son Tommy.

Antasari said the Attorney General's Office would need a month before announcing the investigation status of the big names and the findings of its probe into the other persons named by the House.