Akbar confident of freedom even if guilty

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.