Bosowa, Bakrie companies clean, syas AGO chief
Tony Hotland, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Defending its decision not to investigate two firms linked to top government officials, the Attorney General's Office (AGO) asked state auditors on Thursday to produce clearer indications of state losses caused by the extension of loans to the companies.
Deputy attorney general for special crimes Hendarman Supandji said a preliminary review by his office did not find any state losses from the disbursement of loans to cement producer PT Semen Bosowa Maros and telecommunications firm PT Bakrie Telecom by state-owned lender Bank Mandiri.
Bosowa is owned by Aksa Mahmud, a nephew of Vice President Jusuf Kalla, and Bakrie Telecom is owned by chief economics minister Aburizal Bakrie.
"Now it's up to BPK (the Supreme Audit Agency) to seek more concrete indications that the loans given to these firms could lead to losses of state funds. If there is any, of course, we will investigate," Hendarman told a hearing with legislators.
During Thursday's hearing, Attorney General Abdul Rahman Saleh said the media have misunderstood his statement about the review of the loans for the two firms.
"There was never any investigation, so there's no halting of anything. The media took my statement wrongly by saying that we halted or dropped the investigation," he said.
He denied that there was any pressure from any party to exempt the two firms from corruption probes because of their ownership status.
Media reports said last Saturday that the AGO had decided to halt its graft investigation into Bosowa and Bakrie Telecom.
Hendarman said the AGO was focusing more on intensifying the probes into lending scandals involving Bank Mandiri, the country's largest bank in term of assets, which have proven to contain indisputable indications of state losses.
In its report, the BPK discovered many irregularities in the extension of loans to the two firms. The loans for PT Semen Bosowa Maros were approved despite the fact there was a high risk that the company would fail to repay the debts.
As for PT Bakrie Telecom, Mandiri decided to extend loans even though the debtor has a G (risky) rating due to a troubled restructuring process and overrated business prospects, and has had experienced unsound financial conditions over the past four years.
During Thursday's meeting, House of Representatives members questioned the AGO's decision favoring the two companies, saying the government must have interfered with prosecutors' work.
They said it was odd, since the AGO's decision not to investigate the two firms came shortly after advice by Vice President Kalla that prosecutors should be careful in probing the lending scandal, and Minister Aburizal's statement that not all irregularities should be perceived as corruption.
The AGO initially planned to investigate around 28 companies, including the two well-connected firms, in relation to alleged irregularities in the extending of loans worth over Rp 12 trillion (US$1.28 billion).
So far, the AGO has been focusing on four corporate borrowers -- PT Cipta Graha Nusantara/Tahta Medan (CGN/TM), PT Siak Zamrud Pusaka (SZP), PT Lativi Media Karya (LMK) and PT Artha Bhama Texindo/Artha Tri Mustika Texindo (ABM/ATM).
Top officers from PT CGN/TM and PT SZP have been detained as suspects along with former Bank Mandiri president director E.C.W. Neloe, vice president director I. Wayan Pugeg and former director M. Sholeh Tasripan.
Hendarman, who also chairs a special antigraft team, said the AGO is expected to declare more suspects within the next 10 days, including those from Mandiri.