Bulog benefited from Goro land deal, says Beddu

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)