Ex-Bulog chief questioned, net closing on Akbar

Ex-Bulog chief questioned, net closing on Akbar

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak and Jupriadi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The two central figures in the Rp 54.6 billion State Logistics
Agency (Bulog) scandal switched roles during legal proceedings of
the case.

Former chief of Bulog, Rahardi Ramelan was questioned on
Thursday as a key witness for the newly-named suspect, Akbar
Tandjung.

Last year, Akbar -- the House of Representatives Speaker and
Golkar Party chief, was questioned as a witness in a proceeding
that had Rahardi as the prime suspect.

Rahardi was one of seven witnesses that the Attorney General's
Office investigators questioned to shed light on the role that
Akbar played in the alleged misuse of Rp 40 billion of Bulog
funds.

Investigators were attempting to trace where the non-budgetary
state funds had been channeled. The premise is that Akbar, the
former state/Cabinet secretary, siphoned it off to Golkar for its
1999 election campaign.

Rahardi revealed that he took orders directly from then-
president B.J. Habibie in 1999 to disburse the money for an aid
project.

Rahardi said that the money was sent in the form of checks to
the Office of the State Secretary in two batches. The first Rp 20
billion was handed to the Office in March, while the remaining Rp
20 billion in April of 1999.

Akbar's case is an integral part of the Rp 54.6 billion
corruption case with Rahardi as the prime suspect. The Rp 40
billion, according to Rahardi, was disbursed as part of the
government social safety net program (JPS).

Habibie, in separate questioning, has explained that he
ordered Akbar to coordinate the program -- although he was not
one of the officials responsible for JPS -- in order to insure
"better efficiency".

The project was handled by the privately-run Raudlatul Jannah
Foundation with help from several contractors, whom Akbar claimed
had delivered more than 16 million food packages in five
provinces throughout Java.

The investigators have found no evidence that the food
packages were ever sent.

The same team of investigators, led by Manaf Djubaedi, has
also named Bulog's deputy chief of finance at the time Achmad
Ruskandar, as a suspect, along with the Foundation's chairman
Dadang Sukandar and one of the contractors, Winfried Simatupang.

The team has also been trying to ascertain why, if at all,
Akbar appointed Raudlatul Jannah as the organizer of the project.

The suspicion that Akbar allegedly siphoned off the money to
Golkar, was all but confirmed, when a Golkar executive, Syamsul
Mu'arif, now minister of communications and information, recently
said that all but one, the People's Democratic Party, of the 48
parties in the election got a share of the hot money.

Also questioned on Thursday as a witness in Akbar's corruption
case was Ruskandar. He explained that on Mar. 2, 1999, he had
handed two checks, each worth Rp 10 billion, to Akbar in the
latter's office. Ruskandar was accompanied by staffer H. Ishadi
Saleh.

On the second delivery on Apr. 20, Ruskandar claimed that he
was accompanied by another staffer Yusnadi Suwarta when handing
over eight checks with a total value of Rp 20 billion, also
received by Akbar in person.

In previous questioning, Akbar claimed he had never received
the money but saw it put on his desk before Raudlatul Jannah
Foundation collected it.

Attorney General's Office spokesman Muljohardjo revealed that
in the questioning Ishadi clarified that the checks were put in
an envelope which was inserted into a file folder.

"The file folder was handed to Akbar who ordered us to put it
on his desk," Muljohardjo quoted Ishadi.

Rahardi's lawyer Yan Djuanda Saputra told reporters that his
client was astonished when the investigators showed him two
receipts of the Bulog funds signed by the Foundation executives.

Yan Djuanda said that the receipts should be signed on behalf
of the Office of the State Secretariat as the recipient.

"Akbar collected the first receipt from Ruskandar, promising
that he would give it to Bulog after he got the rest of the
money. But until he retired (as state/Cabinet secretary), he
never honored his promise.

"So it was surprising that the Foundation got the receipts
which appear as if Bulog handed over the money directly to the
Foundation," he added.

Muljohardjo also explained that the number of checks related
to the case was 10, and not 15, as earlier reported. All were
seized as evidence.

Five of the checks, according to witness Muniyanti, customer
service officer at the now defunct Bank Exim, were signed by
Ruskandar and Yunardi Suwarta.

The investigators revealed that all the checks were cashed by
one person using a fake ID card through Bank Exim and Bank Duta.

In a related development, more calls for Akbar to resign as
Golkar chief and House Speaker to facilitate the investigation
came from the South Sulawesi Golkar chapter on Thursday.

Chairman of the South Sulawesi Golkar Chapter Edy Baramuli
said Akbar should quit to maintain the credibility of both the
House and the Golkar party.