Habibie and Akbar to testify in Rahardi's corruption trial

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Former president B.J. Habibie and House of Representatives (DPR) Speaker Akbar Tandjung are both scheduled to testify in the graft trial of former State Logistics Agency (Bulog) chief Rahardi Ramelan at the South Jakarta District Court on Tuesday.

The court also summoned former coordinating minister of people's welfare and poverty eradication Haryono Suyono, former Bulog finance deputy Ahmad Ruskandar and two more former Bulog employees.

Habibie's lawyer, OC Kaligis, however, indicated that Habibie would probably not attend the hearing even though the prosecutor's office had sent the summons to Habibie's Jakarta residence last Thursday.

"He is now in Germany. Prosecutors could read out his dossiers as he was under oath during (last month's) questioning," he told reporters on the sidelines of Rahardi's hearing on Tuesday, which was also attended by deputy chairman of the Golkar Party, Agung Laksono.

Earlier on Tuesday, the court heard the testimony of two former Bulog employees. The trial, which started around 10 a.m., was scheduled to hear four witnesses, but at 5 p.m., presiding judge Lalu Mariyun decided to adjourn the session until next week due to time constraints.

A former Bulog finance administration head, Anton Yulianto, testified that Bulog funds had been used to finance some activities that were not related to Bulog's purpose, which is to manage the stability of basic commodities.

"That's why we (Bulog employees) called the expenditures 'bizarre'," he said.

Judge Lalu commented that Bulog acted like a "Santa Claus" as it was overly "generous" in disbursing its funds.

Anton confirmed that Bulog had disbursed Rp 40 billion to Golkar chief and House Speaker Akbar Tandjung as per Rahardi's order via a note.

During the hearing, chief prosecutor Kemas Yahya Rahman showed a hand-written note from Rahardi, ordering Bulog's finance bureau head to disburse the first installment of Rp 20 billion to Akbar, then minister/state secretary.

There was no explanation about the purpose of the fund disbursement in the note.

"The disbursement of Rp 20 billion was as simple as that? Didn't the defendant inform you of the purpose of the disbursement?" asked Lalu.

In his reply Anton stated that Rahardi never communicated the purpose to him.

Rahardi is being tried for his alleged involvement in the misallocation of a total Rp 62.9 billion in state funds during his term between 1998 to 1999.

The high profile case involving Bulog's disbursement of Rp 40 billion to Akbar, is currently being tried by the Central Jakarta District Court. Akbar claimed that the fund was used to finance an aid project.

But the project officer, Winfried Simatupang, recently repaid the money to the state despite having earlier claimed that he used the money to finance the aid project by distributing 1.6 million food packages to the poor in five areas of Java in 1999. Prosecutors found no evidence of any aid project.

Many believe the fund was allegedly used to finance Golkar's election campaign in 1999.