Akbar acknowledges responsibility for Rp40b Bulog funds

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.