Akbar confident of freedom even if guilty

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Akbar Tandjung, a suspect in a multi-million dollar corruption case, expressed confidence on Wednesday that he would remain free even if the court found him guilty of misusing Rp 40 billion money from the State Logistics Agency (Bulog).

Speaking to journalists after making his final defense plea against the corruption charges, Akbar said that if the court declared him guilty, he would not be imprisoned until there was a final decision from the Supreme Court.

"That's if the court declares me guilty. But I'm confident that the court will clear me of all the charges," said Akbar, who is the House of Representatives speaker and also chairman of the Golkar Party.

He made the comment when asked about rumors that Golkar executives would try to unseat him from his current post if the Central Jakarta District Court found him guilty.

The court will announce the verdict on Sept. 4.

If the court finds Akbar guilty, Akbar would still be able to appeal to the High Court, and failing that, he could appeal to the Supreme Court, much like the current Bank Indonesia chief who was recently convicted of corruption but remains on the job pending an appeal.

Akbar was charged for misusing his power as the state secretary/Cabinet secretary in 1999 to use Bulog funds for his own interest. The funds were supposed to be earmarked for food distribution.

Akbar has denied the charge, saying the funds were channeled to the Raudlatul Jannah Foundation - chaired by Dadang Sukandar - to handle the food distribution through contractor Winfried Simatupang, both of whom are fellow defendants in the same case.

Prosecutor Fachmi claimed the food distribution never took place, and accused Akbar of perjury in regard to his testimony about the distribution.

Most political experts have strong suspicions that the money was used to fund Golkar's election campaign in 1999.

Prosecutors asked for a 4-year sentence for the Golkar chairman and three and a half years each for Dadang and Winfried.

During Wednesday's hearing, Akbar claimed that the prosecutors had not presented enough evidence of his involvement in corruption, and that some facts were contradictory.

On his final statement before the panel of judges, Akbar said the corruption charge against him was purely based on speculation.

"I object to accusations that I conducted a conspiracy to take Bulog funds, engineer and lie about the use of the fund. That's not true," he told the court.

He insisted the usage of Bulog money was decided by president Habibie after a meeting with various ministers.

Akbar refused to elaborate on his claim that he did not lie about the money or his involvement.

Fachmi maintained that Akbar was involved in the scandal, and that he lied on numerous occasions.

Akbar did indeed make inconsistent statements both during his own trial and as a witness during the trial of former Bulog chief Rahardi Ramelan.

Last year, Akbar initially claimed that the handover of the money never took place in his own office and the funds were directly channeled to the foundation.

But later, he admitted in a statement that he did receive the money at his office and gave it to Dadang.