Ex-Bulog chief Beddu put on wanted list

Sandy Darmosumarto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

National Police Headquarters ordered on Saturday an all-out hunt for Beddu Amang, the former head of the State Logistics Agency (Bulog), and one of prime suspects in the alleged misuse of Rp 841 billion (US$99 million) in livestock feed subsidies provided by the state.

Deputy director of the National Police's graft unit, Sr. Comr. Marsudi Hanafi, said on Saturday that the National Police had sent out a special team led by a one-star police general to check out locations where Beddu might be, including hospitals and a number of houses that Beddu owns.

National Police Headquarters had also alerted provincial police headquarters to help in the search for Beddu, including Riau and South Sulawesi Police Headquarters.

"We are putting him into our wanted list as of today," Marsudi told reporters at his office.

Beddu was put on the wanted list only a day after a team of investigators and physicians went to Beddu's residence in Jakarta to confirm whether he was really ill.

Beddu was supposed to come to National Police Headquarters on Friday to be questioned as a suspect in the graft case. But he failed to turn up, sending his lawyer with a doctor's certificate saying he was ill instead.

Apparently the police had doubts that Beddu was sick, and sent a team of officers and the physicians to question him at his home.

However, Beddu had already left home early on Friday morning, adding to police suspicions that he was attempting to evade justice.

His whereabouts are still unknown.

The graft case began in 1997 when the directorate general of animal husbandry asked the government to provide subsidies for domestic animal breeders following the sharp rise in livestock feed prices. At that time, the economic crisis was in full swing and the breeders could not afford to buy imported animal feed. So, the government asked Bulog to import raw materials for animal feed in collaboration with the directorate general of animal husbandry. The feed was then to be sold cheaply to breeders.

But Bulog instead let four private sector companies handle distribution and sales. These companies sold the animal feed for more than Rp 3,000 per kilogram, much higher than the price of only Rp 1,200 per kilogram set by the government. As a result the state incurred losses of Rp 841 billion.