Ex-forestry ministers scheduled to testify

Ex-forestry ministers scheduled to testify

JAKARTA (JP): Former forestry ministers Hasjrul Harahap and
Djamaludin Suryohadikusumo are scheduled to testify as witnesses
on Thursday in the multimillion dollar graft trial of timber
baron Mohamad "Bob" Hasan at the Central Jakarta District Court.

"They will get their chance to tell their side of the story.
What prosecutors want to know is what were the roles they played
in the case," chief prosecutor Arnold Angkouw told The Jakarta
Post on Wednesday.

"Former officials testified in the initial court session that
based on the recommendations of these two ministers, the ministry
awarded the defendant's company with two different mapping
projects, both of which were fraudulent."

Arnold was referring to the indictment that defendant Hasan
had defrauded the state of US$75.62 million and the Association
of Indonesian Forest Concessionaires (APHI) of another $168
million through two fraudulent aerial mapping projects.

The first project in 1989 involved the mapping and shooting of
aerial photographs of 88.63 million hectares of forest
concessions, belonging to 599 concessionaires.

The defendant, who chaired APHI from 1989 to 1998, initially
granted this project to PT Adikarto Printindo (AP) in 1989, a
firm whose shares he eventually bought in full and whose name he
changed to PT Mapindo Parama (MP) in 1991.

The former director general of forestry inventory and
planning, Soenarsan Sastrodimitro, told an initial court hearing
that he had done his best to coax Hasjrul -- who served as a
minister in former president Soeharto's fifth development Cabinet
from 1988 to 1993 -- to grant the project to more than one firm.

"Hasjrul Harahap ordered me to recommend only one firm -- the
defendant's firm -- for the project, despite the firm's obvious
inability to complete the project single-handedly," the witness,
who served from February 1989 until June 1993, told the hearing.

Hasan, witnesses said, granted the project to Adikarto
Printindo without the presence of other APHI executive board
members, which was a requirement in any decision taken by APHI.

Another violation of the law, prosecutors pointed out, was
that the permit issued by the Ministry of Forestry for the 1989
project was only for the mapping and shooting of aerial
photographs of concessions belonging to 81 of the 599 companies,
or 8.85 million hectares of forest concessions.

The rest were never authorized by a forestry ministry permit.

"Adikarto Printindo was only one firm. I recommended 18
reputable consulting firms, including Printindo, (to the
minister), but the minister picked only Printindo," Soenarsan
said.

The second project, which was begun in 1996, was worth $87
million and involved shooting aerial photographs of 30.6 million
hectares of protected forests nationwide.

Another former director general of forestry inventory and
planning, Sumahadi, said at Tuesday's hearing that the project
was awarded to PT Mapindo Parama, on former forestry minister
Djamaludin's recommendation to former president Soeharto.

Mapindo Parama, after having received the $87 million as
payment for the project, he said, provided the ministry with old
aerial photographs, dating back to 1992, of two million hectares
of the total 30.6 million.

Prosecutors have charged that the old photographs were of
forest concessions -- not protected forests -- taken by the
defendant's firm during its work for the 1989 mapping project.

Sumahadi also said he had accepted the old aerial photographs
-- which led to the disbursement of $87 million of reforestation
funds as payment for Mapindo Parama -- because he considered the
photos "technically usable". (ylt)