Arifin Panigoro's trial postponed by ill health

JAKARTA (JP): The South Jakarta District Court postponed the on Monday the indictment of oil tycoon Arifin Panigoro, charged for his involvement in corrupt practices worth Rp 2 trillion (US$266 million), due to the absence of the businessman.

Presiding judge Soedarto postponed the trial until next week after prosecutor Harun Alrasyid told the panel of judges that Arifin, a loyalist of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), was unable to appear due to ill health.

According to Arifin's lawyer, Muhammad Assegaf, his client has had a heart condition since November last year when he was first summoned for questioning over the same case at the Attorney General's Office.

"Now Arifin has a bad heart (again) probably because he is excited about his party winning or because of this case. I don't know," Assegaf jokingly told reporters.

Arifin, the owner of oil company PT Medco Central Asia, has been charged with corruption in relation to state-owned insurance firm PT Jasindo.

PT Medco issued 27 commercial papers in July, last year, one of which was bought by Jasindo.

The prosecutor has accused the outspoken businessman of causing state losses of Rp 2 trillion because his company was unable to repay the company for the paper.

Arifin, known for his strong support for the reform movement well before the forced resignation of president Soeharto in May last year, earlier denied the accusation, saying the charge was politically motivated.

The businessman claims Jasindo had agreed to an extended payment period for the commercial paper. He said his company had yet to pay its debt to Jasindo mainly because of the prolonged economic crisis.

Lawyer Assegaf reiterated on Monday that the charge had more of a political nuance rather than being a pure legal case.

He said the political nuance of the case could be seen from a telephone conversation between President Habibie and Attorney General Andi M. Ghalib which was leaked to the public by the media in February.

In the phone conversation, Habibie allegedly asked Ghalib, among other things, to speed up the investigation into Arifin and businessman Sofyan Wanandi.

Assegaf said that besides Arifin, a PT Medco executive and a Jasindo executive were also to be brought before the court on the same charge.

The lawyer speculated that the court's decision to hear his client's case first was politically motivated.

"Why is Arifin, who is PT Medco's commissioner, the first to be brought to court? Why not the directors of the two companies? It is surely politically motivated," he said, giving no further explanation.(jun)