Akbar quizzed over land scam only 'as witness'

Akbar quizzed over land scam only 'as witness'

JAKARTA (JP): After being questioned for four hours by police
over an alleged land scam, House of Representatives Speaker Akbar
Tandjung on Monday insisted that he was innocent, while
maintaining that he would not file a counter-suit against his
nephews, who lodged the police complaint.

"I feel I have done no wrong, but I will not sue, because
these are family matters. The people who filed the complaint
against me are my own nephews... whatever the reason (for filing
the complaint), they are still biologically linked to me," Akbar
told reporters at the National Police Detectives Headquarters,
adding that he had been asked 22 questions in the four-hour
police questioning, which began at 10 a.m.

"Besides, I was questioned only as a witness."

The police complaint filed by Akbar's nephews Kurnia Ananda,
Taufik Ananda and Indra Ananda, allege that Akbar had forged the
land titles to 23 hectares of land in the Srengseng subdistrict
of Kebon Jeruk, West Jakarta.

The consent of President Abdurrahman Wahid to question the
House Speaker was granted on March 12.

Police have so far questioned three witnesses in the case,
including Kurnia Ananda.

The land, owned by Akbar's elder brother Dato Usman
Zahiruddin, was sold by Akbar to, among other purchasers, the
city administration for use as a public park.

When asked on Monday if Akbar had received Rp 400 million
(US$40,000) for the land sale from Bob Sugiarto -- a contractor
named by the city government to acquire the land for a city park
-- Akbar did not answer clearly, stressing only that he had given
his answer to the police.

"For the substance of the case, it is better if you
(reporters) ask the police. Till now, I don't feel I have
committed any wrong," Akbar said.

Former Kebun Jeruk district chief executive and subsequently
West Jakarta mayor Sutardjianto has already been named a suspect
in the case.

Kurnia, who is Zahiruddin's son, told the police that he and
his brothers once met with Akbar, whose full name is Akbar
Djandji Zahiruddin Tandjung, when the latter was minister of
public housing, at his official residence on Jl. Widya Chandra,
South Jakarta in 1995.

According to Kurnia, Akbar offered to return the proceeds from
the sale of the land based on a price of Rp 50,000 per square
meter, but Zahiruddin's sons refused the offer and instead
demanded Rp 500,000 per square meter, as the market price of the
land had reached Rp 1 million per square meter by that time.

Kurnia reported the case to the police last year, but received
an unsatisfactory response. Last month he turned to the National
Ombudsman Commission, which then recommended that the police
investigate the case.

Separately, Akbar's lawyer Atmajaya Salim, who arrived at the
office of the National Police Detectives before Akbar, insisted
that his client was innocent and said that the lawsuit was
already statute-barred.

Earlier, Atmajaya, who is from the Soekanto Salim and
Associates law firm, said that the land dispute took place
between 1983 and 1994 and a suit brought by the heirs of
Zahiruddin had been thrown out by the South Jakarta District
Court and the Jakarta High Court.

"Over the period of the dispute, my client was merely a member
of the administrative staff of the family company Marison NV,
where he had been since 1978. He didn't have authority to decide
on the acquisition of the land," Atmajaya said.(ylt)