'Akbar tried to make me lie'

'Akbar tried to make me lie'

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Former State Logistics Agency (Bulog) chief Rahardi Ramelan told
the South Jakarta District Court on Tuesday that House of
Representatives (DPR) Speaker Akbar Tanjung and his former lawyer
had persuaded him to lie to investigators in a bid to cover
Akbar's involvement in the Bulog scandal.

Rahardi, who is being tried for his alleged role in the
misappropriation of Rp 62.9 billion of Bulog funds, said Akbar
and his then lawyer Hotma Sitompoel persuaded him to hide the
truth during a meeting held at the Grand Mahakam hotel in
Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta, on Oct. 10, 2001.

Rahardi made the statement in response to the testimony made
by Akbar, who took the witness stand in his trial.

It was Rahardi's lawyer Trimoelja D. Soerjadi, who first
revealed in court the plot to cover Akbar's involvement in the
scandal.

"Have you ever attended a meeting at the Grand Mahakam hotel
on Oct. 10, 2001?" Trimoelja asked.

Clad in dark suit, Akbar, who did not seem to expect the
question, was quiet for a while and took a deep breath before
answering the question.

"Yes, but I don't really remember it," said Akbar.

Akbar, who is being tried separately on the same graft
charges, later admitted that he and several people, including his
then lawyer Hotma Sitompul, met Rahardi and his then lawyers OC
Kaligis and Yan Djuanda Saputra in the hotel. The meeting was to
discuss a response to Rahardi's expected questioning by the
Attorney General's Office probing the scandal.

However, when Trimoelja was about to ask Akbar another
question, presiding Judge Lalu Mariyun postponed the hearing for
one and a half hours for a lunch break.

At the four previous hearings, he adjourned the hearing for
only an hour for lunch.

Trimoelja told reporters that Akbar and Hotma had attempted to
persuade Rahardi to lie to the investigators.

Hotma, Trimoelja said, concocted an elaborate scheme aimed at
covering up Akbar's involvement in the scandal.

Rahardi, according to the scheme, gave the funds in question
directly to the Raudlatul Jannah foundation for a charitable
project, instead of giving it to Akbar.

The plot, too, required Rahardi to say that Bulog was
responsible for the monitoring of the project, Trimoelja said.

After the break, Trimoelja continued his questions about the
meeting between Akbar and Rahardi. But chief prosecutor
Kemas Yahya Rahman interrupted the hearing.

"I think the questions are irrelevant with the indictment.
Your Honor, please order the lawyer to stop his questions," he
said.

But judge Lalu allowed Trimoelja to proceed with the
questions.

Trimoelja asked Akbar whether Hotma had requested Rahardi to
lie, but Akbar said that he did not remember the conversation in
the meeting.

At Tuesday's hearing, Akbar, chairman of the Golkar party, was
accompanied by lawyer Amir Syamsudin, wife Krisnina Maharani, as
well as several Golkar members, including Mahadi Sinambela and
Bomer Pasaribu.

Akbar dismissed Hotma, as well as lawyers Ruhut Sitompul and
Tommy Sihotang, two months ago. Rahardi also fired Kaligis and
Yan Djuanda last month.

Lalu was the judge who acquitted former president Soeharto
youngest son Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra and businessman Ricardo
Gelael in a corruption case involving Bulog, that inflicted Rp
95.4 billion in losses to the state.

The decision was later overturned by a panel of Supreme Court
justices, including Syafiuddin Kartasasmita, who was shot death,
allegedly on Tommy's orders last July.

Rahardi is being tried for his alleged part in the
misappropriation of Rp 62.9 billion in state funds between 1998
and 1999.

If convicted, Rahardi could face up to 20 years in jail.

According to the indictment, Rahardi gave Rp 40 billion of
Bulog's non-budgetary funds to Akbar, who was then the state
secretary. Akbar was assigned by former president B.J. Habibie to
manage the project.

Akbar then assigned the Raudlatul Jannah Foundation to handle
the project. The chairman of the foundation, Dadang Sukandar,
ordered contractor Winfried Simatupang to manage the tasks.

Winfried repaid Rp 42.5 billion to the Attorney General Office
in February, saying he had kept the money in his house. Many
alleged that the fund was used to finance the 1999 Golkar
campaign for the general elections.

During Tuesday's questioning, Akbar denied that the fund was
channeled to Golkar or Golkar members.