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