AGO to bring Pertamina graft cases to court

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.