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)