Beddu Amang to stand trial next Thursday

JAKARTA (JP): The trial of the former head of the State Logistics Agency (Bulog), Beddu Amang, is scheduled to begin here next Thursday.

Beddu is being tried for his alleged role in an illegal land exchange that also involved Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra.

The trial will take place at the South Jakarta District Court and will be presided over by a three-member panel of judges led by the chief of the district court, Lalu Mariyun. The other two judges on the panel are Soemarsono and Rusmandani Ahmad.

The trial will begin with the prosecutor, Fahmi, reading the indictment against Beddu.

The defendant is charged with corruption stemming from a 1995 land exchange deal between Bulog and wholesale firm PT Goro Batara Sakti. The deal caused Rp 76.7 billion (more than US$8 million) in losses to the state.

As part of the land deal, Bulog exchanged 50 hectares of its land in the strategic area of Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta, for a 71-hectare plot of land in the desolate area of Marunda, North Jakarta. The plot in Marunda was owned by businessman Hokiarto, and PT Goro borrowed money from Bulog to purchase the land.

The same court earlier tried PT Goro executives Tommy and Ricardo Gelael in connection with the same case, clearing the pair of all charges. However, last September the Supreme Court overturned the district court's decision and sentenced the two men to 18 months in prison.

Tommy, however, fled shortly after the decision was handed down and remains at large.

Gelael is currently serving his sentence at Cipinang Penitentiary.

The South Jakarta District Court previously refused to try Beddu, who was at the time a member of the People's Consultative Assembly. Presidential approval is required to arrest and try legislators, and prosecutors failed to obtain this approval.

The Attorney General's Office also is investigating Hokiarto over his possible role in the land scam.(sim)