Court asked to hear reforestation fund case
Court asked to hear reforestation fund case
JAKARTA (JP): Lawyers representing five environmentalists
asked the administrative court yesterday to hear their lawsuit
against President Soeharto who they accuse of diverting Rp 250
billion (US$105 million) in reforestation funds to a pulp and
paper mill.
Lawyer Bambang Widjojanto told the Jakarta State
Administrative Court that the President's decision to allocate
the funds to the mill's development had been illegal because it
violated Presidential Decree No. 40/1993 on the use of
reforestation funds.
"The court has the authority to try this case," Bambang said
in response to a recent rebuttal from Soeharto's lawyer, Attorney
H.V.A. Lumempouw.
The defendant's attorney had said that the court had no
jurisdiction over the case because a presidential decree was
equal to law, which could only be reviewed by the House of
Representatives.
Presiding senior judge Lintong Oloan Siahaan adjourned the
hearing until July 14 when the court will decide whether to
proceed with the case.
President Soeharto is being sued by environmentalist Emmy
Hafild and four other green campaigners for issuing decree No.
93/1996 which granted Rp 250 billion in reforestation funds to PT
Kiani Kertas.
PT Kiani Kertas is developing a $1 billion pulp and paper
facility in Berau regency, East Kalimantan. The 3,400 hectare
project is due to become operational this year, producing up to
500,000 tons of pulp and paper a year.
The company is a subsidiary of the Kalimanis Group, which is
owned by timber baron Mohamad 'Bob' Hassan.
A Kiani Kertas executive said early this year that his company
had "not touched" the reforestation funds.
The company has funded the project with $400 million in equity
and $700 million from domestic loans.
The plaintiffs claim that under Environment Law No. 4/1982
everybody has the right to a good and healthy living environment
and has the duty to preserve and prevent it from being polluted
and destroyed.
Bambang said the pulp and paper project would threaten the
environment with toxic air pollution.
"According to the decree (No. 43/1996) the funds should be
used to rehabilitate the environment, not to fund an activity
that has the potential to destroy the environment," Bambang said.
"There has been legal inconsistency which should be addressed
here," he added.
Bambang quoted a study saying that 2.4 million hectares of the
country's forests were being lost each year, while the Rp 5
trillion reforestation fund "if it was all used for
reforestation" would stop only 22 percent of the total denuded
forests. (aan)