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)