Former ministers blame Soeharto for $87m graft

Former ministers blame Soeharto for $87m graft

JAKARTA (JP): Former forestry ministers Hasjrul Harahap and
Djamaludin Suryohadikusumo shifted the blame for two allegedly
fraudulent mapping projects involving defendant Mohamad "Bob"
Hasan to former president Soeharto on Thursday.

They testified before the Central Jakarta District Court that
their decisions to appoint the defendant's firm to run the
projects were in accordance with an order from Soeharto.

Hasjrul, a minister in Soeharto's fifth development Cabinet
from 1988 to 1993, said that he had instructed the ministry's
then director general of inventory and planning, Soenarsan
Sastrodimitro, to do exactly what Soeharto had told him to do in
regard to a 1989 mapping project.

"I wrote an official letter to Soenarsan in December 1992 that
he was to give no recommendation for security clearance -- which
clears the way for a firm to shoot aerial photographs of both
protected forests and forest concessions -- to any other mapping
firm, or even to the Army," Hasjrul told the hearing presided
over by Judge Subardi.

"Recommendation for security clearance should only be given to
the defendant's firm, PT Mapindo Parama (MP) -- formerly known as
PT Adikarto Printindo (AP) -- according to the former president's
wishes."

Hasjrul was referring to the 1989 project, which prosecutors
say defrauded the Association of Indonesian Forest
Concessionaires (APHI) of US$168 million by defendant Bob Hasan.

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

Hasan, as 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.

Hasjrul said the defendant presented results of the mapping
project at the presidential palace on Nov. 16, 1992.

The presentation, he said, was attended by Soeharto, former
research minister B.J. Habibie, former director general Soenarsan
and a high-ranking official of the National Coordinating Agency
for Survey And Mapping.

"After the presentation, the (former) president instructed
Soenarsan not to give a recommendation for security clearance to
any other firm, other than this one," Hasjrul said.

The numbing question came when chief prosecutor Arnold
Angkouw, on the matter of the payment for the 1989 project, asked
Hasjrul whether the ministry had ever discussed the project with
APHI, or any other association, before it was awarded to PT AP,
in April 1989.

When Hasjrul said no, Arnold showed the hearing a 1988
forestry ministry letter signed by Hasjrul to APHI, allowing the
Association of Indonesian Wood Panel Producers (Apkindo) and
Indonesian Sawmill Association (ISA) to extract one dollar per
cubic meter of logs bound for export, from forest companies with
concessions, as fees.

The chief of APHI, Apkindo and Isa at that time was defendant
Hasan, Arnold said.

When the former minister saw the letter, he said: "I'm
sorry ... it's the fasting month. I'm not feeling exactly fit."

Djamaludin, who was forestry minister in Soeharto's sixth
development Cabinet from 1993 to 1998, told the hearing that the
ministry had received a verbal order from Soeharto to make sure
another aerial mapping project, which began in 1996, was carried
out efficiently, and if possible, by the defendant's company.

"Yes, it was the president's instruction and the ministry
carried out the project ... we chose MP since it had the
technology, which no other firm had, to take aerial photographs,"
Djamaludin said.

The July 1996 mapping project was a one-year project worth $87
million, involving the taking of aerial photographs and "airborne
radar" images of 30.6 million hectares of protected forests.

The problem was the fraudulent submission of aerial
photographs of two million hectares of forest, which were old,
some even dating back to 1992, former director general of
inventory and planning Sumahadi said at an initial hearing. (ylt)