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.