Contractors come out in defense of Akbar

Contractors come out in defense of Akbar

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Even though Attorney General M.A. Rachman has reiterated that
there was no distribution of food for the poor in 1999, as
claimed by House of Representatives Speaker Akbar Tandjung, two
contractors, who claimed they handled the project, insisted they
had carried it out.

Rahman said at a fast-breaking gathering on Tuesday that his
office had still not found any evidence to indicate that the
Bulog funds were actually used in 1999 to buy basic commodities
for the poor, the most affected by the economic crisis.

He said that, based on random checks conducted by his
subordinates in a number of provinces, no evidence was found that
suggested local residents received food from Raudlatul Jannah
Islamic Foundation, which had claimed to be in charge of
procuring the food aid.

"The client organized the food distribution in several
regions. But I can't reveal the exact locations because the
question is too detailed for me to answer," Sabar Ompusunggu, a
lawyer for Tulak Pangmanapan, the director of PT Artha Lapan Jaya
and Jan Palembong, the director of PT Trans Tigana Service, told
reporters, after his clients were questioned at the Attorney
General's Office.

Dadang Sukandar, chairman of the foundation, claimed earlier
that, in handling the project, he had assigned four contractors
that included companies that both Pangmanapan and Palembong had
contracted out to carry out the food distribution.

Both Pangmanapan and Palembong were grilled by investigators
on the alleged misuse of some Rp 40 billion of nonbudgetary funds
belonging to State Logistic Agency (Bulog), which implicated
Akbar, who is also chairman of the Golkar Party.

However, Sabar, along with Pangmanapan and Palembong, refused
to reveal any more details concerning the case.

Dadang claimed that he had received funds to provide food to
several regions in Jakarta, Yogyakarta, East Java, Central Java
and West Java. Dadang also claimed that the project had
distributed a total of 1.62 million packages to 1,600 villages in
64 regencies.