Bulog corruptor's appeal tossed out by Jakarta High Court

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The defense team of former State Logistics Agency (Bulog) chief Rahardi Ramelan has yet to decide whether to appeal the High Court verdict of guilty for their client's misuse of Rp 62.9 billion in Bulog funds.

The misappropriated funds includes Rp 40 billion that was disbursed to then Cabinet secretary Akbar Tandjung, who has been found guilty of graft and sentenced to three years in prison, but remains free pending his appeal to the Supreme Court.

Lawyers Trimoelja D. Soerjadi and Frans H. Winarta, who represented Rahardi at the High Court, said on Tuesday that they had yet to discuss the issue with Rahardi.

"We have to wait to receive a copy of the verdict. I think he must appeal to the Supreme Court, because it would merely examine whether the lower courts applied the law correctly in my client's case. He has nothing to lose," Trimoelja said.

Jakarta High Court spokesman Hasan Basri Pase confirmed that a panel of judges led by Judge Samang Hamidi upheld the verdict of a district court, which sentenced Rahardi to two years for his role in the 1999 graft case.

The South Jakarta District Court found Rahardi guilty of abusing his power in disbursing Rp 4.6 billion to bail out retailer PT Goro Batara Sakti in its debt to Bulog.

The court also found Rahardi guilty of channeling Rp 400 million to Laode Kamaluddin, an advisor to Vice President Hamzah Haz and member of the People's Consultative Assembly, in order to procure favorable media coverage for B.J. Habibie, who was contesting the 1999 presidential election.

Rahardi, however, remains free as the High Court, like the South Jakarta District Court, failed to specify a date for him to start serving his jail term.

The Jakarta High Court had earlier supported a lower court's guilty verdict for Akbar, incumbent House of Representatives speaker and Golkar Party chairman, in misusing Rp 40 billion of Bulog funds under the rice for poor program and sentenced him to three years in prison.

At the same time, the high court increased the sentence for Akbar's two accomplices Dadang Sukandar and Winfred Simatupang to three years in jail, from the 18-month sentence handed down by the district court.

Many believe that Akbar actually channeled the money to bankroll the Golkar party's 1999 election campaign, but this line of investigation was never pursued during his trial.

Suspicion also abounds that, although the graft cases of Rahardi and Akbar are connected, the two cases have been kept separate in their legal processes -- most likely to acquit Akbar from all charges.

Akbar is a presidential candidate for the Golkar Party.

The Supreme Court has promised to issue a verdict on Akbar's appeal at the end of this month, even though Chief Justice Bagir Manan had announced that the verdict would be delivered in September.