Demand to drop charges against Bob Hasan denied

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repealed.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The law is no longer in effect, as the 1999 anticorruption law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)