Demand to drop charges against Bob Hasan denied

JAKARTA (JP): The Central Jakarta District Court dismissed on Thursday a motion to have corruption charges against timber baron Mohamad "Bob" Hasan dropped.

The defendant, a one-time golfing buddy of former president Soeharto, has been charged with swindling hundreds of millions of dollars from the state and the Association of Indonesian Forest Concessionaires (APHI).

"The judges reject all the grounds put forward by the defendant's lawyers on the allegedly incomplete indictment," presiding judge Subardi said during the hearing on Thursday.

"The points were not relevant. The case will be tried in this court. The court orders state prosecutors to present four or five witnesses at the next hearing, scheduled for Monday."

Prosecutors said they would present two witnesses from APHI and a director from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry next Monday.

During the initial hearing, defense lawyers said prosecutors were charging their client, accused of defrauding the state of US$75.62 million and APHI of $168 million through an allegedly fraudulent aerial mapping project, under a law that has been repealed.

"The prosecutors are charging my client under the 1971 anticorruption law with enriching himself at the state's expense. The law is no longer in effect, as the 1999 anticorruption law was enacted on Aug. 16 last year," Augustinus Hutajulu, the chief defense lawyer, said.

Subardi countered by saying suspects could only be charged under laws which were on the books before their alleged crimes were committed.

"It is fine with the judges (to charge the defendant under the 1971 law)," he said. (ylt)