Key witness in Bulog case admits document forgery

Key witness in Bulog case admits document forgery

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A key witness in the State Logistics Agency (Bulog) corruption
case admitted on Tuesday that he had falsified documents about
the use of Rp 40 billion (US$4.09 million) that he received from
former Minister/State Secretary Akbar Tandjung.

Dadang Sukandar, chairman of the Raudlatul Jannah Foundation,
told the South Jakarta District Court that he had lied to the
Attorney General's Office when he said that the money was used
for charity.

The witness was testifying in the trial of former Bulog
chairman, Rahardi Ramelan.

Dadang himself, along with Akbar, who is the House of
Representatives speaker and the Golkar Party chairman, and
Winfried Simatupang, a contractor, are being tried separately at
the Central Jakarta District Court.

Winfried, according to the indictment, was the contractor
responsible for the disbursement of food packages for the
supposedly charitable project for the needy between March and
September 1999.

Many believe that Akbar used the money for Golkar's 1999
election campaign. But Akbar insisted that he handed the money to
the Raudlatul Jannah Foundation for the mirage-like aid project.

Strangely, Winfried paid Rp 40 billion back to the Attorney
General's Office earlier this year, and claimed that he never
used the money.

On the sidelines of Tuesday's hearing, Rahardi's lawyer
Trimoelja D. Soerjadi questioned why the Attorney General's
Office never bothered to check where the Rp 40 billion really
went.

"It could be easily be concluded that the fund was channeled
to Golkar. I wonder why prosecutors refused to look into that.
It's not only about corruption, it's also about collusion. It's
about taxpayers' money, they deserve to know where their money
went," he told reporters.

However, during the hearing, prosecutor Kemas Yahya Rahman
said that the prosecutors would not deal with the money's final
destination.

"How the money was really used is not our business. The facts
reveal that Akbar had obtained the money (from Rahardi). Case
closed," he said.

On Tuesday, Dadang told the court that in November 2000, he
handed over falsified documents to the prosecutors saying that
all of the money had been used to buy staple food that was later
distributed for the needy.

Dadang said that Winfried told him that he had only spent 10
percent of the Rp 40 billion fund for the charity project when
Dadi Surjadi, a taxi driver who became the project manager, died
in October 2000.

For four and a half hours, Dadang was questioned, but he was
often warned by both the judges and the prosecutors because his
statements were not consistent.

His statements, too, contradicted the testimony of several
other witnesses, including Akbar.

The court will summon Dadang again next week to be confronted
by other witnesses.

Earlier on Tuesday, former minister of defense/military chief
Gen.(ret) Wiranto testified that he had received Rp 10 billion
from Rahardi to be used for several military projects, including
security for the UN-sponsored ballot in East Timor and to fund
the military intelligence in securing the 1999 general elections
here.

Rahardi, a former trade and industry minister as well as Bulog
chief in president B.J. Habibie's administration in 1999, is on
trial for alleged illegal misappropriation of Rp 62.9 billion of
Bulog's non-budgetary funds.

According to the indictment, he gave Rp 40 billion to Akbar
Tandjung, Rp 10 billion to Wiranto, and handed over the rest to
various parties, including presidential guards and the national
swim team.

Rahardi was formerly a chairman of the Indonesian Swimming
Association.