Four shop owners questioned for hoarding supplies

JAKARTA (JP): City Police chief Maj. Gen. Hamami Nata confirmed yesterday that his office was investigating four shop owners suspected of hoarding food supplies to be sold later at higher prices.

He said that the four shop owners from Jakarta and Bekasi, West Java, were being questioned and that they could be charged with subversion.

"So far, none of them have been detained," he said, refusing to identify the owners or where the stores were located.

He said that the investigation was launched following reports that some traders were keeping their shops closed even though their shelves were sufficiently stocked.

He reiterated that any vendor who was found holding back the sale of staple items could be charged with subversion.

"If they hoard food supplies for their own interests, they could be charged under the Criminal Code or even the subversion law," he told journalists during inspections on labor-intensive projects in West Jakarta and South Jakarta.

According to City Police spokesman Lt. Col. E. Aritonang, vendors who did not make their stocks available to customers, especially during recent monetary crisis, could be charged under Article 1 (d) of the 1963 Anti-Corruption Law Number 11.

"The four vendors were questioned on alleged activities which have impeded the government's distribution ... and trade of staple foods to the public by intentionally hoarding their stocks for their own interests," he said.

Aritonang said if found guilty, the vendors could receive a sentence of up to 20 years in prison. "That's if they're not sentenced to death or for life."

He refused to give the criteria of what constituted an act of subversion made by a shop owner in his or her business practices.

"If I disclosed that, then it would be used by the vendors as alibis. The point is, there are some legal aspects regarding stockpiling activities which should not be broken by the vendors," he said.

He said that starting yesterday, his office would take action against any shop owner found intentionally stockpiling commodities for his or her own profit.

"Up until recently, we only gave warnings to shop owners who closed their stores for unclear reasons or who stockpiled commodities to be sold later at higher prices. But now we'll punish them," said Aritonang.

He said that his office was still waiting to possibly take over an investigation recently started by the Bekasi military district on a trader suspected of hoarding goods.

A source at the Bekasi military district office said a shop owner, identified only as Ru, had been questioned for allegedly hoarding food supplies at his store in the Taman Galaxy shopping area.

The officer, who asked for anonymity, said that the vendor admitted that he had intentionally held back from selling some of his food supplies because he feared that he would not be able to restock his store for a long period of time.

The food supplies held back by Ru had been taken to the market and sold for a discounted price by the military office, he said.

Chief of the Jakarta Military Command, Maj. Gen. Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin, said that his office had provided 100 trucks and their personnel to help distribute staple foods to markets.

He said he had made some military warehouses available to store commodities prior to distribution.

The military office was also on alert to detect any problems in supply distribution, he said. (09/cst)