Habibie answers more Bulog questions

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Former president B.J. Habibie admitted on Monday that he assigned his minister/state secretary Akbar Tandjung to administer the use of state funds belonging to the State Logistics Agency (Bulog) for a food for the poor program in 1999.

However, Habibie, who appeared before the Attorney General's Office as a witness in the Rp 40 billion scandal, told prosecutors that he had asked Akbar to comply with regulations while conducting the charity duty.

"Habibie claimed that the execution of the project has never been reported to him, although he said he never asked for it," office spokesman Barman Zahir told a media conference which followed Habibie's seven-hour questioning session.

He failed to elaborate on the regulations Habibie was referring to.

The prosecutors are probing Habibie's policy making process regarding the project carried out in five provinces in Java. Habibie is expected to face the second round of questioning on Tuesday.

After Monday's questioning, it remained unclear whether Akbar had the authority to run the project, because the Presidential Decree No. 190/1998 on the establishment of a task force for the realization of a social safety net program hands the authority to a line of cabinet ministers without involving the office of the state secretary.

Habibie was first questioned last December in connection with a related case involving Bulog's former chairman Rahardi Ramelan, who has been named the prime suspect.

Akbar, the chairman of the Golkar party and speaker of House of Representatives, was named a suspect after the investigators found no proof of the charity project.

Speculation has been rife that the scandal could drag in Habibie if it is proven that the fund was misused in the interests of Golkar, which at that time nominated Habibie for the presidential post. The bid failed, thanks in part to Akbar.

Akbar's appointees to distribute more than 1.6 million food packages were Raudlatul Jannah Foundation chairman Dadang Sukandar and one of the contractors Winfried Simatupang. Both have also been named suspects in the case.

Akbar, who is now on a haj pilgrimage, claimed that he had presented a progress report to Habibie during a non-formal meeting before he left his ministerial post in May 1999 and that it was no longer his business since the project was still going on until September of that year.

Waring a long-sleeved batik shirt and head scarf peci, Habibie arrived 15 minutes before the questioning started at 9 a.m. He was accompanied by lawyers O.C. Kaligis and Yan Djuanda Saputra, his non-litigation lawyer, former minister of justice Muladi and dozens of guards.

The questioning room was moved from the crowded Round Building to one of the bigger rooms in the main building of the Attorney General's Office.

At a media conference held at 4 p.m. at the Office, Habibie refused to disclose his accounts during the questioning, saying it would affect many other witnesses in the case.

Habibie claimed to have quit Golkar one month after he took over the presidency from Soeharto, who resigned following bloody student protests in May 1998.

But, two Golkar executives, who asked that their names be withheld, told The Jakarta Post that Habibie remained in the party's structure as the coordinator of advisory board.