Court asked to drop all charges

JAKARTA (JP): A lawyer has asked the Central Jakarta District Court to free two executives of PT Hutama Karya who were indicted for involvement in a Rp 1.5 trillion (US$115 million) corruption scandal in two toll road projects.

Chairunissa Jafizham told the court Tuesday that the indictment was unclear as it did not mention clearly the role of the defendants, Thamrin Tanjung, the state-owned construction company's project manager, and Tjokorda Raka Sukowati, the firm's president.

"How can the prosecutor mention the losses if there have been no complaints from buyers of the commercial papers released by the company? Have there been any losses yet?" Chairunissa queried.

She said the indictment also did not mention where and when the money was given to businessman Djoko Ramiadji and other people.

Based on that, the lawyer asked the court to drop the charges and restore the names of the defendants.

In the indictment, prosecutor Faried Harianto claims the defendants, together with accomplices identified as Lesmana Basuki, Tony Basuki, Ratnawati Pola, Djoko Ramiadji and Tony Suherman, were involved in siphoning off funds allocated for the construction of the Tanjung Priok-Jembatan Tiga-Pluit toll road and Pondok Pinang-Jagorawi toll road's southern section.

Faried said the two men and their five accomplices acquired the funds by issuing commercial papers which were endorsed by PT Hutama Karya to raise funds to continue the projects. (jun)