Heat is on House Speaker Akbar over Bulog scandal

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

House of Representatives Speaker Akbar Tandjung met on Tuesday night with Taufik Kiemas, president Megawati Soekarnoputri's husband, to seek support to block a move aimed at establishing a House special committee to investigate a graft case allegedly involving him.

An executive at the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), Roy BB Janis said the meeting took place at Akbar's residence.

"At the meeting, Akbar sought our support that the scam would not be brought to a House special committee," Roy told the media on Wednesday.

"We told him that the PDI Perjuangan faction had neither ordered nor banned its members from participating in the establishment of a special committee. It's their right as legislators," Roy said.

Akbar is trying to drum up support to obstruct the move by 50 legislators who had earlier filed a petition with House leaders to establish a committee to probe the scam.

Speaking to the media after presiding over a House plenary meeting, Akbar confirmed that he had met with Taufik Kiemas, but denied he had sought support over the issue.

"It was a silaturahmi (brotherhood meeting) because both of us are House members," he said.

Akbar said he had asked Taufik to host the meeting, but the latter refused. "So the meeting took place at my residence," he said.

Earlier in the day, a plenary meeting presided over by Deputy House Speaker Tosari Widjaja accepted a proposal from 50 legislators for the creation of a special committee to investigate the alleged misuse of Rp 40 billion in funds belonging to the State Logistics Agency (Bulog), which allegedly involved Akbar.

Following the acceptance, the plenary meeting then ordered the House's deliberating body to discuss whether the plan should go ahead or not.

"We will convey the proposal to the deliberating body. It is the body that will discuss further steps to follow up the proposal," Tosari told The Jakarta Post after the meeting.

Further deliberation of the proposal will be held on Nov. 19 because the House goes into recess on Thursday, in preparation for the Annual Session of the People's Consultative Assembly on Nov. 1.

Separately, State Secretary/Cabinet Secretary Bambang Kesowo said that the government had received a letter from Attorney General M.A. Rachman requesting the President's consent to question House Speaker Akbar Tandjung over his alleged involvement in the Bulog scam.

"We received the letter (on Tuesday) evening and the President will respond to the request as soon as possible," Bambang told journalists.

In the meantime, Bulog chief Widjanarko Puspoyo said, after meeting Megawati, that his office would continue with its efforts to recoup the lost funds, including the Rp 40 billion (US$4 million).

"They amounted to around Rp 2 trillion, but it will not be easy to recover them because many of the funds were disbursed to personal accounts that were related to the many former Bulog chiefs. It would have been easier if they had been disbursed to companies," Widjanarko said.

He said that his office would also supply data to the Attorney General's Office for investigation purposes.

Separately, National Awakening Party (PKB) deputy chairman Mahfud M.D. revealed that he had additional evidence relating to the case.

"I believe that these corruption allegations are genuine and not merely a political maneuver, like the previous case concerning Bulog. That was a factor that ultimately led to the fall of former president Abdurrahman Wahid," Mahfud, a former minister of defense under Abdurrahman, told reporters at the PKB office in Central Jakarta.