Akbar finally quizzed by AGO as Bulog suspect

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Nothing has changed for House of Representatives Speaker Akbar Tandjung's huge corruption case, except his status, as he stuck to his earlier account on Tuesday that the the Rp 40 billion belonging to the State Logistics Agency (Bulog) had been used to provide food for the poor in five Javanese provinces in 1999.

In his first questioning session as a suspect in the Bulog corruption investigation, Akbar was grilled for over five hours to verify the state prosecutors' random field checks in five provinces. However nobody in those regions could confirm that the food had actually been distributed to anybody between March and October of 1999 by the Raudlatul Jannah Foundation, a virtually unknown organization apparently handpicked by Akbar to carry out the program.

"I was asked by the investigators whether I was sticking by my earlier statements during the first two quiz sessions, and my answer was yes," Akbar, accompanied by friends and lawyers, told reporters one hour after the session ended at 3 p.m.

Akbar was questioned twice as a witness on Oct. 31 and Nov. 22 last year.

Attorney General's Office spokesman Barman Zahir said afterwards that Akbar claimed that the foundation had given him reports about the food distribution.

This, alone, seemed to raise further questions because the foundation's chairman Dadang Sukandar earlier claimed that Akbar had never asked him to provide any reports for the project.

"To verify Akbar's account the investigators will extend their field checks to small villages and not only at the regency administration or subdistrict administrations as they did earlier," Barman said.

Two other suspects in the case, Dadang, along with one of his contractors on the alleged project Winfried Simatupang, were also questioned on Tuesday.

The three of them will again be questioned on Feb. 11.

Akbar's case is part of a Rp 54.6 billion graft case in which former Bulog chief Rahardi Ramelan is the prime suspect.

Akbar claimed that he only carried out orders from then president B.J. Habibie.

The project was supposedly carried out to minimize social unrest during the economic crisis. But many have suspected, due to the timing, that the money had been misused by the Golkar Party, which Akbar chairs, to finance its campaign for the 1999 general elections.

Reports also revealed that the money was channeled to the accounts of several Golkar executives as well as to some other political parties contesting the elections, with the exception of the People's Democratic Party (PRD).

Investigators had revealed that Akbar claimed that he never knew the two other suspects before the project was carried out. Akbar said that he first met Dadang when the latter made a proposal for such a project on Feb. 15, 1999, and three days later brought Winfried to his office to discuss the food distribution plan.

Dadang, who was close to Golkar's treasurer M.S. Hidayat, claimed that he had good business contacts, but it still did not explain how he could be well-prepared for a food distribution project -- which was entrusted to his foundation without considering any other groups -- five days after a closed-door meeting between the President and several of his aides, including Akbar, on Feb. 10, 1999.

While clearly receiving gentler treatment than other suspects, Akbar, who has not been slapped with a travel ban, said on Tuesday he would leave for Mecca for a haj pilgrimage on Feb. 14, and expressed hope that further questioning would not interfere with his schedule for the trip to the holy land.

Tuesday's questioning looked for all the world like there was some subtle intimidation being applied by Golkar as dozens of high-ranking party functionaries arrived an hour before Akbar and then waited just outside the door of the questioning room as their leader was being grilled.

The executives, including Ferry Mursyidan Baldan, Mahadi Sinambela, Ade Komaruddin, Bomer Pasaribu, Akil Muchtar, Agung Laksono and Daryatmo Mardiyanto, said they were there only "to give Abang (brother) our moral support".