Ex-minister Moerdiono forgets Bob Hasan, blames Soeharto
JAKARTA (JP): Former minister/state secretary Moerdiono, on Monday, denied remembering defendant Mohamad "Bob" Hasan and shifted the blame for a 1996 fraudulent mapping project, involving the timber tycoon, to former president Soeharto.
"I don't really remember (knowing the defendant)... I might have known him 20 years ago," Moerdiono told a Central Jakarta District Court hearing, when presiding judge Subardi asked him if he recognized or knew the defendant.
Moerdiono, who served as state secretary in Soeharto's fifth and sixth development cabinets from 1988 to 1998, testified that he gave his approval to appoint the defendant's firm to run the 1996 project, in accordance with Soeharto's approval.
"I received a letter from (former) forestry minister (Djamaludin) on May 2, 1996. He had recommended the disbursement of reforestation funds for the project... and asked that the defendant's firm, PT Mapindo Parama (MP), be appointed to run the project," he told the hearing.
The July 1996 mapping project was a one-year project worth US$87 million of reforestation funds, involving the taking of aerial photographs and "airborne radar" images of 30.6 million hectares of protected forests.
"I sent the minister's letter to (former) president Soeharto, and he approved it. I wrote back to Djamaludin on May 23, 1996 informing him that the funds would be disbursed and that PT MP would be appointed for the project," Moerdiono said.
When asked the amount of the reforestation funds, Moerdiono said that he had "no idea at all," and apologized to the hearing when he was shown Djamaludin's letter addressed to him, which clearly stated the amount.
"I ask for the court's forgiveness, your Honor. I tend to forget," Moerdiono said.
The problem for defendant Hasan arose when PT MP fraudulently submitted aerial photographs of two million hectares of forest, that were old, some of them dating back to 1992.
Prosecutors have charged Hasan with funneling the reforestation funds to hundreds of businesses Hasan and his family friends owned.
Djamaludin had said in an initial hearing that he had recommended the defendant's firm because he had received a verbal order from Soeharto to make sure that the 1996 project was carried out efficiently, and if possible, by PT MP.
"Yes, it was the president's instruction," Djamaludin said.
Prosecutors have also charged Hasan with defrauding the Association of Indonesian Forest Concessionaires (APHI) of $168 million, from a 1989 aerial mapping project.
The project involved the mapping and shooting of aerial photographs of 88.63 million hectares of forest concessions, belonging to 599 concessionaires.
Hasan, as the then APHI chief, granted the project to PT AP without the presence of other APHI executive board members, which was a requirement in any decision taken by APHI, witnesses have said. Hasan later bought PT AP and changed its name to PT MP.
Meanwhile, Dicky Krisna Hadiguna, finance manager of PT MP, told the Monday hearing that $176 million received from APHI for the 1989 project, and $87 million received from the Forestry Ministry for the 1996 project, had all been diverted to hundreds of businesses.
"The projects were subcontracted to a hundred other firms. Both projects could not be done solely by PT MP," Dicky said.
Dicky also denied that any money had gone to the personal accounts of defendant Hasan. (ylt)