Attorney General drags its feet on Akbar investigation

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Against public expectations of an early probe, the Attorney General's Office appears not ready to hold the case against Akbar Tandjung, a suspect in a Rp 40 billion (US$4 million) scandal involving the State Logistics Agency (Bulog), delaying the questioning of the House of Representatives speaker.

Instead of immediately summoning Akbar after he was named a suspect last week, state prosecutors are still beating around the bush by endlessly questioning dozens of witnesses who are believed to be able to help them get all the facts.

The delay seems to reinforce speculation that the state prosecutors are now trying to shift the focus from Akbar to the little-known Raudlatul Jannah Foundation, claimed by Akbar to have managed the state funds put aside for the poor in March and April 1999.

Many believe that the money actually went to a Golkar Party account, which Akbar chairs, to fund its campaign in the 1999 general election, while other contesting political parties shared a sum of the funds.

Deputy Attorney General for Special Crimes Haryadi Widyasa toned down previous reports suggesting that there were no limits placed on the investigation and that Akbar was still the main suspect, but the probe was now focusing on how the foundation managed the money, following up on Akbar's earlier statements.

"We are just following up his (Akbar's) story... he talked about the (involvement) of the foundation so we are pursuing the foundation," Haryadi told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday, adding that the investigators "are still not clear about the case".

He repeatedly asked for the public's patience before any further legal proceedings could be taken against Akbar, although two other supporting suspects have already been slapped with travel bans.

"Just wait... don't use the 'hit first, worry later' principle," Haryadi said, adding that the Attorney General's Office will conduct the case as long as there was a violation of the law concerning the use of the money, even though it involved political parties.

He said that all the necessary evidence had been seized so the investigators were not worried about the possibility of Akbar destroying any evidence.

According to Akbar, who was then the state secretary when the alleged corruption took place, the Raudlatul Jannah Foundation was appointed to organize a national project, which was funded by Bulog, to distribute food packages to those most affected by the economic crisis. The order for the distribution, he said, came directly from then president B.J. Habibie.

However, investigators, led by Manaf Djubaedi, have not been able to find any proof of the food deliveries.

Such speculation heated up when Achmad Ruskandar, Bulog's deputy for financial affairs, told investigators that Akbar ordered him to divide the second disbursement of Rp 20 billion into eight checks. Akbar has denied the allegation.

The probe found another lead that could highlight Akbar's role, in which two receipts belonging to Bulog, which should have been signed by Akbar, as the recipient of the funds, were actually signed by the foundation, while Bulog never received the receipts or the copies from Akbar's office.

Other suspects in the case, the foundation chairman Dadang Sukandar and one of the contractors in the project, Winfried Simatupang, have been imposed with a travel ban for one year, starting last Monday.

The case has become a delicate matter because President Megawati Soekarnoputri owes Akbar for her presidential post, but freeing him from prosecution would set a bad precedence for her nationwide campaign to eradicate corruption.