Fake IDs used to cash Bulog checks, court told

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.