Attorney General's Office seizes choppers from Gatari
Attorney General's Office seizes choppers from Gatari
JAKARTA (JP): Attorney General Marzuki Darusman said on Monday
his office would seize helicopters belonging to the Ministry of
Agriculture and Forestry as evidence in a Rp 23.3 billion fraud
case involving the misuse of reforestation funds and government
property.
"The prosecutors plan to seize on Wednesday the helicopters
and other evidence related to a government project involving
aircraft rental company PT Gatari Air Service," he said at his
office.
A prosecutor, who requested anonymity, said the investigators
would seize eight helicopters, five of which currently are
located at the Atang Sanjaya Air Force Base in Bogor, some 60
kilometers south of here. The remaining three helicopters are at
Halim Perdanakusuma Airport in East Jakarta.
The case is one of a number of corruption cases reported by
the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, formerly called the
ministry of forestry and plantations, as part of its efforts to
recover massive amounts of misused reforestation funds, and to
eradicate corruption in the ministry.
The Attorney General's Office began investigating the case
last May and named two suspects: Sudjono Suryo, the former
secretary-general of the ministry of forestry and plantations,
and the president director of PT Gatari, Kabul Riswanto.
PT Gatari was established in 1983 as PT Gatari Hutama Air
Service, and was owned by former president Soeharto's youngest
son Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra. The company was granted a five-
year contract in 1992 to maintain the ministry's 12 helicopters
and a small aircraft, all produced by state aircraft manufacturer
PT Industri Pesawat Terbang Nusantara.
The contract allowed Gatari to lease the helicopters to
outside companies with the ministry's consent.
The ministry claims it was charged Rp 7.2 billion by Gatari
for using its own helicopters during the period of the contract.
Gatari also was accused of marking up the expenses for repairs
and spare parts, costing the ministry Rp 2.8 billion. The
ministry paid these expenses with funds which had been earmarked
for reforestation.
Reforestation funds are collected by the government from
logging companies, who must pay a percentage for every log they
cut in their concession areas. The funds are meant to ensure
sustainable forest management.
The ministry also claims PT Gatari has failed to handover four
of the 12 state-owned helicopters, despite a ministry-set
deadline of February 1999 for their return.
The spokesman for the Attorney General's Office, Yushar Yahya,
said prosecutors had yet to decide whether to obtain a permit
from a district court before seizing the helicopters. (bby)