Akbar awaits verdict on Bulog scandal on July 22

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Government prosecutors will present their sentencing demands for House of Representatives Speaker Akbar Tandjung and two other defendants in the Rp 40 billion Bulog scandal in court on July 22.

The Central Jakarta District Court is expected to hand down its decision after hearing the closing defense submissions for Akbar, Dadang Sukandar and Winfried Simatupang in early August, the same time the People's Consultative Assembly will be holding its Annual Session.

The court, presided over by Judge Amiruddin Zakaria, completed the cross-examination of the three defendants as well as confirming the cash was deposited and being held in an account in Bank Mandiri, belonging to the Attorney General's Office.

Prosecutor Fachmi said after Monday's hearing that the indictments were delivered convincingly.

"The charges of abusing power, amassing wealth from state funds and causing losses to the state, faced by the defendants have all been heard in court."

The case revolves around a government safety-net project carried out on the orders of former president B.J. Habibie in 1999, using the State Logistics Agency (Bulog)'s non-budgetary funds.

Akbar, who was a minister and cabinet secretary at the time, assigned little-known Raudlatul Jannah Foundation, which Dadang chairs, without any bids to organize the distribution of food for the poor with Winfried as the contractor.

The court found there were no legal procedures or supervision implemented to run the project, which later turned out to be a hoax.

The three defendants have given different, confusing statements, which have raised the judges' anger and amused people attending the trial.

The most bizarre has been Winfried's statement that he kept the Rp 40 billion, mostly in U.S. dollar bills, in filing cabinets in his bedroom for the last three years before handing it over in rupiah to investigators.

In another trial on Bulog's former chief Rahardi Ramelan, Winfried said he returned the money to keep Akbar out of trouble.

Dadang and Winfried put the blame on the late Dadi Suryadi, who they said was the only person who disbursed Bulog's checks and kept the project's progress report.

Many people believe that the money was used to bankroll the campaign of the former ruling Golkar party, which Akbar chairs, in that year's general election, which had Habibie as its presidential candidate.

Both prosecutors and judges have refused to go beyond the facts dragged out of the defendants to find out where the money has gone. Many suspect that the cash flowed into the coffers of a certain political party, instead of the foundation.

During Rahardi's trial, the court explored how three Golkar members, Fadel Muhammad, M.S. Hidayat and Iris, had their signatures on Bulog's checks held by Raudlatul Jannah.

If the defendants are found guilty, they could face a maximum of 20 years in jail and an additional fine of up to Rp 1 billion for amassing wealth and graft.

However, judging from the political moves surrounding the case, many people doubt that a fair sentence will be handed down to the defendants.

Doubts started to loom when the House of Representatives failed to set up a special committee to investigate the scandal and to make a political decision whether Akbar was guilty or not. The House needed only a few weeks to set up a special committee to investigate the Rp 35 billion Bulog scandal that led to the impeachment of former president Abdurrahman Wahid over his alleged involvement in the scandal.