House Speaker declared suspect

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Just after he had opened the latest House of Representatives session on Monday morning, Speaker Akbar Tandjung received bad news: He had been named a suspect in the Rp 40 billion (US$3.9 million) scandal involving the State Logistics Agency (Bulog).

Akbar, also chairman of the former ruling Golkar Party, looked relaxed after the session and said he had heard rumors that he would eventually be named a suspect.

He then addressed a media conference, only to tell reporters that he would not resign from his post as House speaker, contending that he was innocent until such time as the court found him guilty.

"I will remain as House speaker as the case occurred in the past when I was not a House member," he said.

He added that, in any event, his party would not withdraw its support for the administration of Megawati Soekarnoputri.

The announcement over Akbar's new status was made by Attorney General MA Rachman in his year-end report on his office's performance.

"We have raised the status of Pak Akbar from witness to suspect in the Rp 40 billion Bulog scandal," Rachman said.

The decision was taken after the Attorney General's Office received on Saturday the go-ahead from President Megawati to investigate Akbar as a suspect.

Megawati gave her approval in response to a request filed by the office on Jan. 1.

Rachman contended that his office had arrived at the decision after state prosecutors had found no proof that Bulog money had been used as claimed by Akbar, namely to supply more than 16 million packages of rice, instant noodles and soy sauce to poor people in five provinces in Java in March and April 1999.

Akbar, who was then state secretary in president B.J. Habibie's administration, contended that he had merely acted upon an order from the former president to supervise the humanitarian deliveries.

He claimed that he had not received the Bulog money, but merely witnessed the handover of the checks from Bulog officials to executives of the Raudlatul Jannah Foundation, which he claimed had been appointed to carry out the food distribution project.

His accounts, however, are in contradiction with statements made by Bulog's deputy chief of finance at the time Achmad Ruskandar, who told prosecutors that he handed over the checks directly to Akbar.

Also, Raudlatul Jannah chairman Dadang Sukandar made a different statement, saying that he did not receive the money. He claimed that the money was transferred directly from Bulog to his contractor, Winfried Simatupang.

Media reports alleged that Akbar had lied about the matter, and in fact had channeled the funds to his Golkar Party executives to finance the 1999 general election campaign.

In addition to Akbar, the Attorney General's Office has also named former Bulog chief Rahardi Ramelan, Ruskandar and Dadang as suspects in the misuse of the nonbudgetary Bulog funds.

The office is about to complete dossiers on prime suspect Rahardi and will soon submit them to the court.

According to Deputy Attorney General for special crimes Haryadi Widyasa, the fact that Akbar had gone beyond Habibie's order and that the suspect had no authority either to supervise or control such a humanitarian project were pertinent reasons for naming him a suspect.

Haryadi referred to Presidential Decree No. 190/1998 on the establishment of a task force for the improvement of a social safety net program.

Based on the decree, the president would directly oversee a team of supervisors and a team of controllers for such a project without involving the office of the state secretary.

Earlier, Akbar, through his lawyers, had tried to shift the blame to Habibie, arguing that it was Habibie's decision to use Bulog money for the project.

However, Haryadi argued that Akbar could always have rejected the order if he had wished.

"Even if Habibie's order was inconsistent with the decree, Akbar had the right to reject it," he said.