Defense ministry not involved in Sukhoi purchase: Officials

Defense ministry not involved in Sukhoi purchase: Officials

Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Officials with the Ministry of Defense on Monday told the House
of Representatives' inquiry on the purchase of Russian jets that
the ministry was not involved in the deal, confirming previous
reports of procedural violations in the purchase.

The ministry's director general for defense strategy Maj. Gen.
Sudradjat said that the ministry was not involved because the
money was not taken from its budget.

Sudradjat, however, refused to say there was a procedural
violation in the purchase of Russian military equipment.

"It would be better if people from all the related
institutions sat and discussed the issue together," Sudradjat
told the press after a hearing with the House committee of
inquiry into the Sukhoi deal.

Moreover, Sudradjat said that the US$192.6 million Sukhoi deal
was unique because it embraced countertrade, involving a number
of local commodities, including crude palm oil.

He reiterated that the defense ministry was not involved in
the deal but had technical cooperation with Russia, especially in
the defense sector and transfer of technology.

Also attending the hearing on Monday were the ministry's
secretary-general Suprihadi and the ministry's director general
of defense equipment Maj. Gen. Aqlani Maza.

Unlike the previous hearings, legislators were less
enthusiastic to give information to the press.

Deputy committee chairman Effendi Choirie of the National
Awakening Party (PKB) who willingly briefed the press on previous
hearings was reticent on Monday, as was Djoko Susilo of the
Reform faction.

It's not clear what made them unwilling to provide details of
the hearing.

Some sources said, however, some legislators were becoming
disinterested in the inquiry as most people invited to speak in
the hearing appeared to defend the Sukhoi deal and nobody
revealed damaging evidence linked to the suspected
irregularities.

The controversy emerged after President Megawati Soekarnoputri
sealed the purchase of four Sukhoi jets and two assault
helicopters during her visit to Russia in April.

The purchase of the jet fighters and helicopters which took
place without consultation with the House had enraged legislators
who later formed a committee of inquiry into the deal.

Before the inquiry began last week, news circulated that the
deal was brokered by businessmen close to the President. And even
the President's son-in-law was mentioned.

During the hearings, however, no one mentioned the involvement
of the President's inner circle. Even businessman Anton Sulaiman,
who admitted being close to the President's husband Taufik
Kiemas, said that he was not in Russia when the deal was struck.

A number of officials and businessmen invited to the hearings,
however, gave different or even contradictory accounts.

Widjanarko Puspoyo, head of the State Logistics Agency (Bulog)
which financed the purchase of the jets, for instance, disclosed
that the deal had been discussed among military officials.

However, Sudar, the Ministry of Industry and Trade's director
general for international trade, stated that the main purpose in
the Sukhoi deal was to expand markets for Indonesian commodities,
not to purchase Sukhoi jets.

In an effort to clarify the conflicting statements, the TNI
chief and other officials from the military are expected to
appear before the inquiry on Tuesday.

The inquiry will also hear on Tuesday an explanation from
Minister of Industry and Trade Rini MS Soewandi who played a
major role in the purchase.