Akbar acknowledges responsibility for Rp40b Bulog funds

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

During a cross-examination in the Rp 40 billion (US$4.4 million) corruption scandal at the State Logistics Agency (Bulog), defendant Akbar Tandjung, the former minister/state secretary, on Monday admitted for the first time in court that he was the one entrusted with the money and responsible for its use.

Akbar, who is now speaker of the House of Representatives (DPR), said in a hesitant voice that he was willing to bear the responsibility although organizing the state funds, intended for the poor as part of the government-sponsored social safety network (JPS) program, was not among his tasks as state secretary.

"I'm responsible for the (use of the) money ... I did it by assigning my staffer, Mahdar, to monitor the distribution of the food aid packages and to remind the Raudlatul Jannah Foundation to continue with the program even after I resigned from the (state secretary) post in May 1999," he said.

The defendant, who is also chairman of the former ruling Golkar Party, has repeatedly insisted that he never laid a finger on the money.

Instead, he said that his office desk at the state secretariat had served as a medium to channel the checks to the foundation.

The charity project carried out in the second quarter of 1999 was a scam.

Many people believe the funds went to bankroll the election campaign of Golkar, which named the president at that time, B.J. Habibie, as its presidential candidate.

Akbar denied an intention to misuse the money, saying: "I was disappointed and angry when I was told that the project had never been carried out and I stopped talking with the other two defendants responsible for the distribution of the food aid packages for two days while we were still in the detention cells of the Attorney General's Office."

Akbar admitted that he had appointed the foundation to run the government's project based on a memo from Haryono Suyono, then coordinating minister for the people's welfare and poverty eradication, and the impressive presentation of the foundation chairman along with the contractor Winfried Simatupang.

Akbar said that although the memo only suggested he comply with the directive issued by then president Habibie, he personally assumed that the foundation was highly-recommended.

The foundation's chairman, Dadang Sukandar, and Winfried are co-defendants in the case. They are charged with violating anti- corruption laws, which carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in jail.

In a bizarre move, Winfried returned the Rp 40 billion to the Attorney General's Office when the investigation was near completion, saying that he made up details of the food distribution to keep Akbar out of trouble.

He said he had kept the money in his bedroom inside a filing cabinet for the past two-and-a-half years.

Monday's hearing, presided over by Judge Amiruddin Zakaria, however, failed to extract Akbar's confession whether he knew where the money had really gone. The prosecutors, led by Fachmi, apparently avoided confronting Akbar.

Coordinator of Akbar's team of defense lawyers, Amir Syamsuddin, instead, had a triumphant closing question during Akbar's session, by letting his client reveal the agony he had endured since the case was made public at the end of last year.

Akbar, who was close to tears, said that as a consequence of his stance to uphold law supremacy, his daughters had refused to go to school and that the case had also affected his political career.

"The (public) opinion has punished me," he said in a shaky voice, but Amiruddin cut short his remarks.

The air was changed during the questioning of Dadang, when the judges, the prosecutors and the lawyers bombarded the defendant, who kept blaming all the irregularities on the project's late officer Dadi Surjadi and Winfried.

The hearing was adjourned until next week when Winfried will testify.