Dossiers on Ancol scam to be given to court

JAKARTA (JP): The Jakarta Prosecutor's Office will soon submit to the courts the dossiers on three councillors who have been declared suspects in a case involving a controversial foreign trip, an official said on Thursday.

The chief of intelligence affairs at the prosecutor's office, R.J. Soehandojo, said the office had completed its investigation of the case.

"The case is ready to be turned over to the courts this month. We are still waiting for the green light from the chief of the Jakarta Prosecutor's Office," Soehandojo, a former spokesman for the Attorney General's Office, said.

Soehandojo said that thus far the prosecutor's office had named three councillors -- Tarmidi Soehardjo, Tarmidi Edi Suwarno and Ali Imran Husein, as suspects in the case.

He said that further investigation might implicate other city officials who took part in the trip.

"The issue of the President's permission to question Governor Sutiyoso should not halt the investigation," Soehandojo said.

The prosecutor's office earlier said the absence of presidential permission to question the governor had blocked the investigation of city officials.

Tarmidi Soehardjo and Tarmidi Edi Suwarno, both from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), and Ali Imran Husein from the United Development Party (PPP) allegedly received millions of rupiah in travel allowance, although they did not take part in the trip to South Africa, Japan and Australia in October last year.

The three councillors could not be reached for comment on Thursday.

Several city officials and 16 city councillors took part in the trip, officially called a comparative study. The trip was financed by city-owned developer PT Pembangunan Jaya Ancol.

Besides receiving travel allowances of between US$5,000 and $10,000 from the developer, each person who went on the trip also received a Rp 52 million travel allowance from the city budget.

PT Pembangunan Jaya Ancol reportedly asked the councillors to study several marine projects in the three countries, because the developer was planning a similar project in Ancol, North Jakarta.

Sutiyoso sanctioned nine officials who took part in the trip, but did not punish two other senior officials.

The City Council had asked the governor to impose sanctions against the two senior officials -- City Development Agency chief Bambang Soengkono and City Planning Agency chief Ahmaddin Ahmad -- who allegedly "forced" the councillors to participate in the trip.

In response to the outcry over their alleged involvement in the case, Sutiyoso has said he will demand Bambang and Ahmaddin retire. Both men have already reached retirement age. (jun)