Investigation on land row to go on: Police
Investigation on land row to go on: Police
JAKARTA (JP): The National Police Headquarters said it will
continue to investigate a businessman involved in a fraudulent
land deal.
"We can't stop the investigation despite repeated requests
from him (Irwan Sutisna), unless there is convincing evidence
that the case lacks evidence of criminal activity," police
spokesman Col. Hari Sutanto told The Jakarta Post over the
weekend.
On Thursday Sutisna renewed his appeal that the police stop
the investigation against him, which has been going on for two
years.
"I have asked the police repeatedly to stop the investigation.
If I commit an offense, prove it and take me to the courtroom as
soon as possible," Irwan told reporters.
The president of PT Ircobumi Grahamaju, a private company
which appropriated the disputed 11,408 square-meter plot of land,
said the plot was covered by proper legal documents.
The land dispute resurfaced again this week and made headlines
in local newspapers when National Police Chief Gen. Banurusman
Astrosemitro said that Marshall (ret.) Mohamad Saleh Basarah
Suraningrat, a former Air Force Chief of Staff, had been
questioned by the current Air Force Chief of Staff (Marshall Rilo
Pambudi) over his alleged involvement in the scam.
The case involving the former Air Force Chief dates back to
1978 when his company, PT Teguh Timbul, acquired licenses to the
lucrative plots located on Kav. 26 and 27 of Jl. Sudirman, South
Jakarta.
Due to financial difficulties, until 1988, PT Teguh Timbul had
only appropriated about half of the 8,110 square meters of the
land.
The company with and all its assets were then purchased by PT
Ircobumi Grahamaju for Rp 850 million (US$390,500), which then
proceeded to appropriate all the land and acquired land
certificates as well as land use and building permits for the
plots.
Building
Irwan later sold one of the plot to Bank Bali where a 21-story
office building is located, while another was developed by PT
Nico Central, a joint-venture firm owned by PT Ircobumi, Nissho
Iwai Co., and Jaya Obayashi where another 21-story building is
situated.
The legal dispute resurfaced two years ago when Sukirman
Hartomartono, an Air Force officer, claimed he had not been
informed by the other co-owners, Saleh and G.F. Mambu, of the
sale of the company to PT Ircobumi.
Sukirman accused his former partners of embezzlement and the
president of PT Ircobumi, Irwan Sutisna, of falsifying documents
so as to illegally appropriate the plots.
Sukirman initially won the case when it was presented to the
South Jakarta District Court in October 1991. But the ruling was
then overruled by the Jakarta High Court in February 1993.
The suit is currently pending following Sukirman's appeal to
the Supreme Court. A new ruling is expected in the near future.
(bsr)