Fake IDs used to cash Bulog checks, court told

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Identity cards (IDs) used to encash State Logistics Agency (Bulog) checks worth Rp 40 billion that were given to former minister/state secretary Akbar Tandjung were fake, a court heard on Monday.

South Jakarta Population and Civil Registration Chairman Johan Anwar told the Central Jakarta District Court on Monday that the ID card under the name of Suryanto was fake, making it almost impossible to trace the identities of those who encashed the Bulog checks.

The name Suryanto was first mentioned when witness Sulistiyo, a Bank Bukopin employee, told the same court that the Bulog checks were encashed on April 21 and April 22 using ID cards bearing the names of Imam Kuncoro, Suryanto and Budi P., with home addresses in Mampang Prapatan, South Jakarta.

Prosecutors traced the addresses of Kuncoro and Suryanto based on the ID cards but found out that addresses on the ID cards were fictive.

Other witnesses, former Mampang sub-district head Atje Rachmat, former RT02/02 chief Mahmud, and former Mampang sub- district population chairman Suwartono, also confirmed on Monday that the names and addresses on the ID cards were fictive.

According to prosecutor Fachmi, any clue to the identities of those who encashed the checks would be essential in tracking down where the money actually went to since investigators could not find hard proof that it was used to finance a government humanitarian project in 1999 as claimed by House Speaker Akbar Tandjung.

"Had we found out who the three were, we could clearly see the flow of the money. But now we can see that the whereabouts of the three has been purposely obscured," Fachmi told reporters during the trial recess.

Akbar, who is also Golkar chairman, is currently standing trial at the Central Jakarta District Court for allegedly misappropriating Rp 40 billion in Bulog funds in 1999. He faces 20 years in jail if convicted.

Facing trial along with Akbar are Raudlatul Jannah Foundation chairman Dadang Sukandar and contractor Winfried Simatupang.

Akbar admitted in previous hearings that he received Rp 40 billion from Bulog in 1999, but insisted that the money was given to Raudlatul Jannah Foundation to buy food packages to be distributed to the poor.

State prosecutors, however, have failed to find any trace of the food distribution program.

Witness Hari Sabari, the foundation's treasurer, said on Monday he never saw the checks or who cashed them but received the money from the foundation's secretary, the late Dadi Suryadi, who was appointed as the project's chief officer. Dadi died in March 2000.

"Only the project's chief officer knew everything about the disbursement of the money," he told the court.

Wardani, head of neighborhood unit in Karangjaya, Bekasi, said that Imam Kuncoro, along with his wife and two children, left their residence around six months ago, just after the Rp 40 billion scandal caught public attention.

Presiding Judge Amiruddin Zakaria adjourned the hearing until May 13 to hear another 10 witnesses. The court planned to hear Habibie's testimony as the key witness in the case.

Many believe that the money went to Golkar's coffers to fund the campaign in a bid to bankroll Habibie as president in the upcoming election.