Financial director of 'Antara' fired for fraud

JAKARTA (JP): Antara news agency chief Mohamad Sobary fired on Monday his finance director, Saiful Hadi, over an alleged Rp 350 million embezzlement.

The news agency said that the decision was taken during a board of directors meeting on Monday morning, also attended by Saiful.

Antara said that the money was earned from fees for the news agency's services and that it had been put in Parni Hadi's bank account.

President Abdurrahman Wahid replaced Parni with Sobary in March.

Sobary was quoted as saying that Saiful was fired because he once claimed that he didn't know anything about the money.

"I once asked Saiful about the money because I thought it should be kept in the company's account and he said he didn't know anything about it," Sobary was quoted as saying.

An unnamed source was quoted by Antara as saying that the money had reached some Rp 5 billion and that it had been put in Parni's bank account since August 1998.

Antara's marketing director Noeh Hatumena was quoted by the news agency as saying that since that date some US$1,000 to US$2,000 had been funneled each month into Parni's bank account.

Meanwhile, Saiful was quoted by the news agency as saying on Monday that Parni would be willing to return the money if it is only going to be used to finance the employees' scholarship and to set up a pension fund.

Sobary said that he only knew about the money after Parni's lawyer came to him and asked for an authorization to clear a check given by his client.

He said that the check could not be cleared without an authorization from Antara.

Parni, who took over as Antara's general manager in 1998, has filed a lawsuit against his dismissal.

Established in 1937, the news agency has developed as a key information provider to the public. It has an extensive network across the country, unmatched by any other Indonesian media organization.

Officially Antara is under the control of the State Secretariat. (byg)