Goro land deal illegal: Witnesses

JAKARTA (JP): Four witnesses testified in the Goro land case on Wednesday that they were unaware of the facts of an exchange for a 71-hectare plot of land in Marunda, Cilincing district, North Jakarta.

The witnesses at the South Jakarta District Court were Rahman Saputro, former head of Marunda subdistrict; Subagyo, North Jakarta mayor; Ali Usman Cilincing district head, and Chairul, an official of the National Land Agency.

Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, the youngest son of former president Soeharto, was accused during the trial of involvement in a land scam which allegedly caused the state Rp 95.4 billion in losses.

"I just signed the completed transaction documents prepared by businessman Hokiarto. I didn't know the owners of the land," Rahman told the court.

The three other witnesses also said they approved the transaction without checking the details.

Prosecutor Fachmi said on Wednesday that the transaction was fictitious and illegal because Rahman never checked its processing in line with regulations.

Fachmi said that wholesale company PT Goro Batara Sakti was required to provide a plot of land in Marunda in exchange for a warehouse complex owned by the State Logistics Agency (Bulog) in Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta. The complex was used by Goro as its wholesale base.

He said Goro, in which Tommy was a shareholder, bought parts of the Marunda land with a loan worth Rp 20 billion (US$2.6 million) from Bank Bukopin.

Goro secured the loan with collateral of a cash deposit of Rp 23 billion belonging to Bulog, he said.

Since the wholesale firm could not return the loan, the bank seized Bulog's deposits, he said.

He said the remaining area was bought with Bulog's cash.

He contended the process of the land appropriation was handled by Hokiarto, Bulog's longtime partner.(jun)