AGO to grill Akbar on Feb. 5

AGO to grill Akbar on Feb. 5

The Attorney General's Office has announced it will question
House of Representatives Speaker Akbar Tandjung on Feb.5 in
connection with his alleged role in a scam involving the National
Logistics Agency (Bulog).

The Office's outgoing spokesman Muljohardjo told reporters on
Monday that Akbar would be questioned along with the chairman of
the Raudlatul Jannah foundation Dadang Sukandar and businessman
Winfred Simatupang.

The three have been named as suspects in the case, which
centers on the alleged misuse of Rp 40 billion in Bulog funds
allocated to a food assistance project for the poor, under the
national poverty alleviation program in 1999.

Muljohardjo said his office would issue summons for the
suspects three days before the scheduled questioning at the
latest.

Contrary to accounts given by the three suspects, a random
field check conducted by the Office's investigators found that no
food distribution program had in fact been implemented.

Controversy has surrounded the Office's failure to impose a
travel ban on Akbar, who will depart for Mecca in Saudi Arabia on
Feb. 14 for the haj pilgrimage.

Former coordinating minister for people's welfare and poverty
alleviation Haryono Suyono was again questioned as a witness in
the case on Monday.

Also on Monday, a group of activists from the Indonesian
Muslim Students United Front (KAMMI) rallied outside the Attorney
General's Office. The students handed over women's clothing in a
mocking reference to the Office's supposed lack of courage in
dealing with corruption, collusion and nepotism.

Representatives of the group were allowed to meet with
Muljohardjo on behalf of the Office's officials. -- JP