Bob Hasan pleads not guilty

JAKARTA (JP): Timber tycoon Muhamad 'Bob' Hasan, who is facing a possible eight-year jail term if convicted of corruption charges, pleaded not guilty on Thursday.

The defendant told the Central Jakarta District Court in his defense statement that he knew nothing about the US$87 million collected from the Indonesian Forest Concessionaires Association (APHI) members, which prosecutors claim was obtained fraudulently through an aerial mapping project.

Hasan, a former APHI chairman and close friend of former president Soeharto, said that he did not know about the funds because he had handed over the matter to the APHI board of executives.

The mapping project was carried out by the defendant's company PT Mapindo Parama between 1989 and 1999.

Hasan claimed that he had never received any dividend from Mapindo in connection with the mapping project.

"I was only present at one PT Mapindo Parama shareholders' meeting," Hasan said as he read the first 10 pages of the 200- page defense statement prepared by his lawyers.

Lawyer Agustinus Hutajulu was to read the rest of the statement, but after he read about 50 pages, presiding judge Soebardi suddenly halted the session. He said he was feeling sick and adjourned the session for one day.

Prosecutors earlier asked the court to order that the defendant pay almost US$244 million to compensate for state losses and impose an additional fine of Rp 30 million ($3,300). (01)