Court asked to drop all charges

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)