Hasan questioned on cartel funds

Hasan questioned on cartel funds

JAKARTA (JP): Timber tycoon Mohamad "Bob" Hasan was questioned
for about three hours by the Attorney General's office here
yesterday over fees collected by a plywood cartel that he once
headed.

"It is correct that Bob Hasan was invited to explain the
Indonesian Wood Panel Association (Apkindo) funds. He came and
gave an explanation to our team," said Soehandoyo, a spokesman
for the Attorney General's office.

Hasan, known as Soeharto's golfing buddy, was the head of
Apkindo until it was scrapped earlier this year under an
agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Apkindo was targeted by IMF-prescribed reforms that call for
the dismantling of monopolies, subsidies and other restrictive
trade practices in return for a US$43 billion rescue package.

Soehandoyo said that Hasan admitted that while he was the
chairman of Apkindo, he did collect the funds and every year the
funds were audited by accountants.

Soehandoyo however declined to comment on the amount of funds
involved in the case.

"This is only the initial questioning," he said. "The amount
involved is still being determined."

Soehandoyo said that Hasan was summoned to the office
following a stream of information it had received.

"The reports came from Apkindo members and the public," he
said.

Hasan explained that the funds were used for reforestation,
transmigration and social welfare programs, Soehandoyo said.

"Apkindo members will be questioned too but we don't know
when," he said.

Soehandoyo said that Hasan was questioned by Maspar Ismail,
economic and finance director of the Attorney General's office
and Soedibyo Saleh, chief of the Attorney General's intelligence
section.

Hasan declined to comment when he emerged from questioning.

Since the early 1990s, Apkindo, with the consent of the
government, obliged all plywood companies (about 120) to export
exclusively through its trading arms set up in various regions.

Apkindo set an export quota for each member, as well as an
export price for importing countries, and collected fees ranging
from $6 to $20 per cubic meter of plywood which was exported.

Hasan and the ousted president Soeharto have been friends for
decades. Hasan, who was born on Feb. 24, 1931, bearing the
Chinese name The Kian Seng, was the trade and industry minister
in Soeharto's last cabinet.

Soeharto resigned last month amid the country's worst economic
and political turmoil in decades.

According to Soehandoyo, Hasan will be called in for
questioning again but the date has yet to be fixed. (byg)