Cipinang prison welcomes Akbar's accomplices

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

While House Speaker Akbar Tandjung celebrated his recent, yet highly controversial, acquittal of all charges for graft, his two accomplices were admitted on Monday to Cipinang Penitentiary to serve out the remainder of their terms in the same case.

Accompanied by their families, convicts Dadang Sukandar and Winfried Simatupang looked listless as they were booked into the high-security penitentiary.

During a press conference at the penitentiary, Dadang declined to comment on Akbar's acquittal.

"I cannot comment because, basically, our situations are different. He is the key defendant (in the case) and we are the second and third. That's what the verdict said and that's why we were convicted," he said.

However, Dadang did say that his defense had been marred by political intervention.

"You know more than I do about politics. As for politicization (of the case), yes, there was. But as the verdict was handed down, well... I don't know the law," he said.

Dadang said he had yet to consider filing a judicial review with the Supreme Court.

"This might be the end of Buloggate II," he remarked, referring to the case name coined by the press corps.

Winfried said he was not disappointed by his sentence.

"I don't see any injustice in this verdict. I thank God that I have to spend less time in prison... I must serve it out," he said.

Neither Dadang and Winfried will serve out the entirety of their 18-month terms, as they have spent almost 10 months under detention by the Attorney General's Office and under city arrest by court order.

Although the Akbar, Dadang and Winfried were detained by the Attorney General's Office on March 1, 2002, their legal journeys separated early on in the proceedings. While the Central Jakarta District Court released Akbar from detention on April 7, 2002, Dadang and Winfried were placed under city arrest on June 7, 2002. They were freed on Jan. 8, 2003 upon the issuance of the high court verdict, pending their appeals to the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court reduced their three-year sentences handed down by the Jakarta High Court to 18 months for corruption.

Akbar had also received a three-year sentence from the Central Jakarta District Court, which was upheld by the Jakarta High Court, but the Supreme Court overturned the verdict on Feb. 12 into a complete acquittal of all charges.

Akbar, Golkar Party chairman and House Speaker, is a presidential aspirant.

Buloggate II involves the embezzlement of Rp 40 billion (then US$4.4 million) of State Logistics Agency (Bulog) funds that was allocated toward a the food-for-poor program in 1999 under the Habibie administration.

Akbar, who was then state secretary and entrusted by Habibie and Bulog to manage the project, digressed from proper procedure in his delegating the task to the Raudhlatul Jannah Islamic Foundation, chaired by Dadang. Dadang, in turn, appointed businessman Winfried as the contractor for the food distribution program -- a program that never materialized.

It is doubtful that the money was ever distributed to the poor. During the investigation, Winfried made a bizarre move, returning Rp 40 billion in installments to the Attorney General's Office -- although he claimed to have distributed some of the funds.

The Supreme Court overturned Akbar's conviction and declared him innocent, saying he was only a subordinate who had fulfilled his responsibility in carrying out the program on the president's orders, and could not be held responsible for others' embezzling public money.

Buloggate I -- a connected, but separately tried case -- refers to the misuse of Rp 62.7 billion ($6 million) in involving former Bulog head Rahardi Ramelan, on whose appeal the Supreme Court has yet to issue a verdict.

Rahardi was arrested on Feb. 7, 2002, placed under city arrest on May 7 and sentenced to two years by the Central Jakarta District Court.

He then appealed to the Jakarta High Court, which recently increased his sentence to four years, but released him from detention. Rahardi remains free pending the Supreme Court verdict.