Govt urged to prosecute errant forest concessionaires
Govt urged to prosecute errant forest concessionaires
Fitri Wulandari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Legal and environmental experts have urged the Ministry of
Forestry to file criminal charges against industrial timber
plantation companies who have misused reforestation funds.
"The government has to take them to court, because it is their
responsibility to protect the environment," said Ibrahim Assegaf,
the director executive of the Center for Indonesian Law and
Policy Studies (PSHK).
"If they (the companies) inflicted losses to the state, the
government has strong reason to take them to court," Ibrahim
added.
Sonny Keraf, the former state minister for the environment,
echoed the same opinion, saying that "the companies have to be
brought to justice to account for the reforestation funds they
have used".
Furthermore, Ibrahim said it was possible for the government
to file charges of corruption or embezzlement against the
companies.
"Legal action can be taken against errant firms. It is not
about an absence of law, but the government's will to uphold it,"
Ibrahim, who is also the executive director for the legal website
www.hukumonline.com, said.
Sonny added that the companies should be taken to court if the
government was serious in its drive to restructure the troubled
forestry industry.
Previously, the Ministry of Forestry revoked licenses of 14
errant firms after an assessment showed that they were not
financially or technically sound.
Forest concessionaires were allowed to borrow reforestation
funds to develop industrial forests, but many diverted the funds
for other business purposes.
According to the Ministry of Forestry, total reforestation
funds have amounted to Rp 2.2 trillion for 94 companies since the
program started in 1992 and ended in 1998.
In the wake of the reform era, press reports on the abuse of
reforestation funds were surfacing and involved top business
figures who had close links with former authoritarian president
Soeharto.
Among the names were Siti Hardijanti "Tutut" Rukmana,
Soeharto's eldest daughter; Probosutedjo, Soeharto's half
brother; Bob Hasan, Soeharto's golf partner; Prajogo Pangestu,
Soeharto's friend, and Ibrahim Risjad, another of Soeharto's
friends.
Prajogo and Soeharto's eldest daughter Tutut, who controlled a
stake in industrial forest estate developer PT Musi Hutan Persada
in South Sumatra, had allegedly manipulated particular documents
regarding the size of the company's 193,500 hectares in order to
obtain more reforestation funds. Prajogo and Tutut allegedly
misused about Rp 346.87 billion of reforestation funds.
Probosutedjo was given special treatment by then president
Soeharto and the minister of state secretary in obtaining more
reforestation funds. He allegedly manipulated some Rp 144.40
billion of reforestation funds he received through his industrial
forest owner PT Menara Hutan Buana, which controls about 268,885
hectares of area in South Kalimantan.
Meanwhile, Mohamad "Bob" Hasan, had allegedly misused Rp
207.81 billion in reforestation funds he received for his
industrial forest estate PT Surya Hutani Jaya.
Businessman Ibrahim Risjad allegedly used the reforestation
funds of Rp 85.36 billion assigned by the government for his
industrial forest developer PT Aceh Nusa Indrapuri to, among
other things, purchase space at the Menara Batavia building,
according to the report.
So far, only Bob Hasan has been sentenced for his crime, while
Probosutedjo and Tutut remain untouched by the law. Ibrahim
Risjad, who is also one of the uncooperative debtors, has been
granted a release and discharge.
PSHK's Ibrahim criticized the government for its sluggishness
and lack of courage in bring them to court.
"The government often reasons that there is a lack of
sufficient law. If the government was serious, they could find
many legal ways to bring them to court," he said.