Bulog suspects fooling the public: Amien

Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Speaker of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Amien Rais said the returning of Bulog funds to state investigators showed that the money was never spent for food distribution as originally claimed, which meant that the suspects had fooled the public.

"We are suddenly given such a funny story. But it proves that there had never been any distribution of food (which was supposed to be financed with the money)," Amien said.

Amien was commenting on the return of Rp 32.5 billion to state investigators, of a total Rp 40 billion belonging to the State Logistics Agency (Bulog) that was allegedly misused by Golkar Party executives, who claimed to have spent the money to distribute food for the poor in 1999.

However, Barman Zahir, a spokesman for the Attorney General's Office in Jakarta, revealed to the media on Saturday, that the money had been returned by Winfried Simatupang, a contractor hired by the then Golkar-dominated government of president B.J. Habibie to disburse food packages to the poor.

The money, Bamran said, was to be paid back to the state in installments, with the first having been made last week and the final one to be made before the end of this month.

House of Representatives Speaker Akbar Tandjung, who is concurrently chairman of the Golkar Party, was detained by the Attorney General's Office on Thursday as a suspect in the corruption case, soon after a third session of questioning.

Akbar, a former Cabinet minister/state secretary, claimed to have been ordered by then president Habibie in 1999 to use the money from Bulog to pay for the distribution of food to the poor.

Amien recalled that the public had believed that the Raudhatul Jannah Foundation, a body assigned for emergency relief operations, and its contractor in charge of the humanitarian project really existed.

"But it all turns out to be an illusion. That's the drama of Bulogate II, it must be followed up," Amien said, referring to the scandal.

Amien refused to make any further comments, simply demanding that the Attorney General's Office handle the case transparently, fairly and seriously.

Meanwhile, chairman of the National Awakening Party (PKB) faction Ali Masykur Musa, shared Amien's remarks, saying that the return of Rp 32.5 billion clearly showed there was deception regarding the humanitarian project in 1999.

Both Amien and Ali agreed that the latest development already constituted solid enough ground for legislators to demand the establishment of a special inquiry committee into the high- profile scandal.

A plan to set up such a special committee at a plenary meeting on March 7 was postponed until March 18. The postponement followed previous successes by Golkar to fight against the establishment of the committee.

Akbar Tandjung's inconsistencies:

1. Akbar initially denied receiving the money directly from Bulog. 2. Akbar said Dadang Sukandar, accepted the money for the humanitarian project on behalf of he Raudhatul Foundation. 3. Three ministers (Haryono Suyono, Rahardi Ramelan and Muladi) were informed that the Raudhatul Foundation had been named a recipient of the money. 4. The foundation was recommended by Haryono Suyono.

1. Former Bulog chief Rahardi Ramelan and former Bulog deputy finance chief Achmad Ruskandar disputed Akbar's testimony. Akbar later admitted that several checks written by Achmad Ruskander had been placed on his desk. 2. Evidence shows that checks from Bulog were accepted by Golkar treasurers Fadel Muhammad and MS Hidayat. 3. All three ministers deny any knowledge of the foundation. 4. Haryono claimed he never made such a recommendation.