Habibie answers more Bulog questions

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.