Beddu Amang to stand trial next Thursday

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)