Bulog benefited from Goro land deal, says Beddu

JAKARTA (JP): Former chief of the State Logistics Agency (Bulog) Beddu Amang told the South Jakarta District Court on Wednesday that the agency suffered no losses in the land exchange deal with private firm PT Goro Batara Sakti.

"Bulog even saw a profit after canceling a land exchange deal with Goro in June last year," Beddu said.

Beddu, who is still a member of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), has belatedly testified as a witness in the trial of Soeharto's youngest son, Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, Goro's former president and shareholder, after prosecutor Fachmi secured an approval from President B.J. Habibie.

Beddu was earlier indicted along with Tommy and Ricardo Gelael, Goro's president commissioner, for corruption linked to the land deal which allegedly caused the state losses of Rp 95 billion, as was claimed by the Development and Finance Control Agency (BPKP) in November.

But Beddu's name was then dropped from the indictment as the prosecutors had not obtained Habibie's permission, a necessity because the former Bulog chief is still a member of the MPR.

He appeared in court on Wednesday only as a witness, as stated in a presidential permission letter signed by Minister of Justice/State Secretary Muladi.

The indictment said the land deal between Bulog and Goro, signed in August 1995, stated that Bulog would exchange its 50- hectare warehouse complex in Kelapa Gading with a 71-hectare plot in Marunda to be provided by Goro. Both properties were located in North Jakarta.

But later, a part of the Marunda land was purchased by Bulog for Rp 32 billion, while the remainder was bought by Goro with a Rp 20 billion loan secured from bank Bukopin. The loan was guaranteed by Bulog with a Rp 23 billion deposit.

According to Beddu, he decided to cancel the land exchange deal in June 1998 after seeing that Goro would not be able to continue the transaction because the firm had suffered big losses after its wholesale market in Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta, was badly damaged in the May riots.

The riots were followed a few days later by the forced resignation of Tommy's father, Soeharto.

Beddu told the court that the cancellation of the deal was advantageous for Bulog.

Besides still owning the Kelapa Gading warehouse complex, the value of the Marunda plot at the time of the deal cancellation had doubled to Rp 165,000 per square meter from the original Rp 80,000 per square meter, Beddu said.

Goro, he said, paid a total of Rp 9.7 billion to Bulog as compensation for damage to Bulog's warehouse in Kelapa Gading and as a penalty for canceling the land exchange deal.

Beddu explained that the land exchange had been discussed since 1994 between then Bulog chief Ibrahim Hasan and PT SAS, a company controlled by Tommy.

But the deal was conducted between Goro and Bulog, after Soeharto appointed Goro as Bulog's partner, he said.

"The deal was not an open tender since Soeharto had already appointed the firm (Goro)," he said.

Beddu acknowledged that he had met with Soeharto, who at the time was accompanied by minister/state secretary Moerdiono, to discuss the deal before signing the agreement with Tommy and Ricardo.

Another witness, Rusman Dinata, Bank Bukopin's former operations director, told court on Wednesday that the bank suffered no losses from the Rp 20 billion loan given to Goro.

"The loan had been paid with the withdrawal of a 23 billion time deposit guarantee belonging to Bulog," Rusman said.

He said that Tommy signed a letter to authorize Goro president Ricardo to get the loan from the bank. The loan was used to buy part of the Marunda property.

Ricardo, who also testified on Wednesday, admitted that Goro had adequate money at the time but decided to borrow money from Bukopin bank to buy the land. (jun)