Govt to seek $100m
Govt to seek $100m
from Newmont
JAKARTA: The government plans to file a civil suit demanding
that mining firm PT Newmont Minahasa Raya pay US$100 million in
damages for allegedly polluting Buyat Bay in North Sulawesi.
State Minister of the Environment Rachmat Witoelar said on
Wednesday the amount had been calculated based on the
environmental damage allegedly caused by the firm.
"The calculation includes the cost of rehabilitating the
coastline, for example," he said after meeting with Vice
President Jusuf Kalla.
The firm is also facing criminal charges over the alleged
pollution, but no date has been set for the start of the trial.
Separately, Newmont said that it had not received any official
notification or summons from the court regarding the lawsuit. --
JP
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Scene-House-salary
Speaker supports pay hike proposal
JP/4/scenes
Speaker supports
pay hike proposal
JAKARTA: House of Representatives Speaker Agung Laksono
defended on Wednesday the proposal to increase the salaries of
House members by some Rp 15 million (US$1,612) each, saying the
current salary was insufficient to cover their operational
expenses.
He said legislators often had to spend their current salary of
Rp 16 million each on operational items connected with their job
as the people's representatives, including visits to their
constituents.
Agung suggested that the government allocate a huge portion of
government funds for law enforcement to increase the lawmakers'
salaries. -- JP
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Scene-logging-Papua
Police arrest forestry officials
JP/4/scene
Police arrest
forestry officials
JAKARTA: The National Police have arrested two officials from
the West Irian and Papua forestry agencies for their alleged
involvement in illegal logging operations.
The two officials, identified only as MLR and MK, were caught
during a joint anti-illegal logging operation, code-named Hutan
Lestari, which started last Saturday. The two had allegedly
issued fake local government permits to logging companies.
National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Aryanto Boedihardjo said
on Wednesday that the two officials had not been declared
suspects yet but were under police investigation.
The police also confiscated 23,169 logs, four barges, one
tugboat and 179 units of heavy machinery. Previously, the police
arrested four financiers of illegal logging operations in
Kalimantan and Papua. -- JP.