Bustanil under house arrest

JAKARTA: Former state minister of cooperatives and small and medium enterprises and chairman of the State Logistics Agency (Bulog) Bustanil Arifin, finally received the dispensation to be placed under house arrest, Jakarta Police announced on Monday. Bustanil will be kept under house arrest at his home on Jl. Hang Lekir in South Jakarta.

"We decided to grant Pak Bustanil house arrest after receiving the report from the city police medical team on his health. But we'll still keep a watch on his house," said Detective chief Sr. Comr. Bambang Hendarso Danuri on Monday.

The 73-year-old Bustanil, a suspect in a corruption case involving Rp 10 billion (US$970,874) in Bulog funds in 1990, will be transferred to Harapan Kita Cardiac Hospital on Jl. S. Parman, West Jakarta, to have intensive treatment for his heart problems. He has been undergoing intensive treatment at Kramat Jati Police Hospital in East Jakarta since Jan. 25.

Bambang said Bustanil would be hospitalized for between five and seven days before being placed under house arrest. He said that the period of hospitalization would not be counted as part of his sentence.

"So far, he has only been detained for 17 days."

Since being under detention at the Jakarta Police Headquarters on Jan. 9, Bustanil has received preferential treatment including not being obliged to wear a detainee uniform because "they were all too small." -- JP