Bob Hasan faces life sentence over alleged scam

JAKARTA (JP): Timber baron Muhamad "Bob" Hasan looked diminutive in his seat on Wednesday as he faced a possible life sentence after being accused by prosecutors of scamming millions of dollars from the state and the Association of Indonesian Forest Concessionaires (APHI).

Chief prosecutor Arnold Angkouw kicked off the hearing, accusing the defendant of defrauding the state of US$75.62 million, and APHI of another Rp 168 million through an allegedly fraudulent aerial mapping project.

"The defendant is in violation of Paragraph 1a of Article 1 of the 1971 Anticorruption Law, for enriching himself at the state's expense," Arnold told presiding judge Subardi during Wednesday's packed hearing at the Central Jakarta District Court.

The article carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.

The charges were made in a 52-page indictment. The dossier of the case runs to over 5,000 pages.

"Between 1989 and 1999, the defendant, as APHI chief, awarded a mapping project without the consent of APHI members, to a company, with the condition that he would become the company's major shareholder. He ended up owning the company," Arnold said.

The company, PT Adikarto Printindo (AP), eventually became known as PT Mapindo Parama (MP).

But chief defense lawyer Augustinus Hutajulu was defiant, saying the indictment was incomplete.

"I'll present my objections to this case at the next hearing, scheduled for Sept. 27. The indictment was not drawn out clearly and still has holes," Augustinus told The Jakarta Post.

Security was tight at the court session. A combined force of over 200 policemen from the Central Jakarta Police, the Jakarta Police and the National Police's Mobile Brigade (Brimob) secured the district court.

Bob Hasan, PT Mapindo Parama (MP) executive director Asmaning Tjipto Witnjoprajitno, deputy chairman Tahir and director Herman Hidayat are accused of enriching themselves through PT Mapindo Parama, which caused losses to the state.

According to the indictment, on April 27, 1989, without calling an executive board meeting, Hasan, as head of APHI, signed an agreement -- No. 075/8/APHI/Pusat/0489 -- with the president of PT Adikarto Printindo (AP) Bambang Riyadi Sugomo, granting PT AP the mapping project.

The project involved the taking of aerial photographs of forest concessions belonging to 599 companies holding forest utilization licenses (HPH).

On May 1, 1989, Bob Hasan became a shareholder of PT AP and bought Rp 1.020 billion worth of shares, making him the company's major shareholder. He later took over full ownership of the company.

According to the indictment, once the defendant owned PT AP, he changed its name to PT Mapindo Parama (MP), on Feb. 18, 1991.

He failed to update the initial work agreement he signed with Bambang, in which the company name was still PT Adikarto Printindo.

As APHI chief, Bob Hasan and APHI deputy chief Tahir then approved the transfer of $12.95 million from APHI to the bank account of PT MP, as payment for the mapping project.

The first two transfers of funds were made to an account at Bank Umum Nasional (BUN), on Jan. 2, 1995 and Jan. 25, 1995, despite the fact that the agreement was made with PT Adikarto Printindo, not PT Mapindo Parama.

Between 1991 and 1998, Asmaning and Tahir agreed to transfer $134.075 million from APHI to three different accounts, as payment for the mapping project, belonging to PT MP.

The project involved the mapping and shooting of aerial photographs of 88.63 million hectares of forest concessions, belonging to 599 concessionaires.

However, the permit issued by the Ministry of Forestry was for the mapping and shooting of aerial photographs for concessions belonging to only 81 of the 599 companies, or 8.85 million hectares of forest concessions.

The indictment says that despite the payments made to PT MP, the defendant did not hand over the aerial photographs or the maps drawn in the project to the remaining 518 companies with HPHs.

The indictment states that as the major shareholder of PT AP, which later became PT MP, it was the defendant's duty to make sure permits were arranged for the mapping project, involving all 599 companies, as according to agreement No. 075/8/APHI/Pusat/0489. (ylt)