Ginandjar, Sudjana named suspects in oil scandal

Ginandjar, Sudjana named suspects in oil scandal

JAKARTA (JP): The Attorney General's Office (AGO) on Thursday
named former minister of mines and energy Ginandjar Kartasasmita
and his successor IB Sudjana, as suspects in corruption cases
involving state oil and gas company Pertamina, which allegedly
resulted in $24.8 million in state losses.

AGO Spokesman Muljohardjo said that Ginandjar illegally
approved four technical assistance contracts between Pertamina
and private oil company PT Ustraindo Petrogas in early 1992 and
1993.

"Our investigations and witness statements conclude that
Ginandjar, as the minister of mines from 1988 until 1993 and
chief commissioner of Pertamina, approved the deals in violation
of regulations regarding technical assistance contracts for oil
development, causing $18 million in state losses," Muljohardjo
told reporters.

"Sudjana, as the minister of mines and Pertamina's chief
commissioner from 1993 to 1998 also breached laws by approving
amendments to the contracts, resulting in losses of $6.8 million
to the state," he added.

Muljohardjo said that the two suspects will be prohibited from
traveling overseas and will be questioned as soon as possible.

He said that prosecutors would send a summons to Ginandjar,
who is still on a lecture program overseas, declaring that the
AGO will not wait until his lecture program ends in July.

"The summons will be sent through our embassies in the U.S.
and Japan, or with the assistance of our foreign ministry," he
added.

The AGO found in its investigations that the deals between
Pertamina and PT Ustraindo violated regulations on technical
assistance contracts because they covered oil fields which were
still productive at the time.

Moreover, while regulations required PT Ustraindo to pay the
costs of oil development in the contract areas, it was Pertamina
who actually bore the costs, thereby incurring total losses of
$18 million to the state, Muljohardjo added.

The contracts with PT Ustraindo covered oil fields in Bunyu,
E. Kalimantan, Prabumulih and Pendopo in South Sumatra, and
Jatibarang on the north coast of West Java.

In February and March 1995, Sudjana, then minister of mines
and energy, approved amendments to the contracts with PT
Ustraindo, which resulted in a smaller government oil take,
thereby incurring $6.8 million in losses to the state, he added.

The AGO has previously named two suspects in the same cases,
including former Pertamina president Faisal Abda'oe and PT
Ustraindo director Praptono H. Hupojo, a relative of former first
lady, the late Tien Soeharto.

Earlier on Wednesday, in an interview with The Jakarta Post in
Tokyo, Ginandjar flatly denied that he had committed any
wrongdoings during his term in Cabinet.

"As a minister, I often made decisions on policies, but I was
not involved in their execution by the executing agencies, such
as Pertamina and (state-run electricity firm) PLN. While a
minister, I did my best to avoid getting involved in technical
matters and matters which were outside my sphere of competence,"
he said.

Ginandjar, who was in Tokyo to present a series of lectures at
Waseda University, expressed concern that he would become the
victim of a political conspiracy.

But Ginandjar said that he would obey an AGO summons, which
Attorney General Marzuki Darusman said that he had been sent
regarding his status as a witness in a corruption case relating
to the construction of the Balongan oil refinery in West Java.

He indicated that he would return to Jakarta in July, soon
after completing his academic commitments at Harvard University.

"I have offered to provide written testimony now and testify
in person when I return to Jakarta. I strongly believe that one
is not above the law. But I have begun to worry that the law is
now being used as part of a witch-hunt that may well lead to
prosecutions based on political objectives, not justice," said
Ginandjar, who currently serves as vice speaker of the People's
Consultative Assembly (MPR). (bby/prb)