Laksamana at center of graft allegations
Laksamana at center of graft allegations
Abdul Khalik and Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Attorney General's Office is looking into corruption
allegations against State Minister for State Enterprises
Laksamana Sukardi, the attorney general said.
"We just received the reports on Friday and we are examining
them now. We can't ban someone from making overseas trips without
reading the reports first," said Attorney General M.A. Rachman
Representatives of the Association of University of Indonesia
Alumni, the Bandung Institute of Technology Alumni, the Trisakti
University Alumni and the Civil Society Professionals submitted
to the Attorney General's Office last Friday reports alleging
that Laksamana was involved in corruption in several divestment
programs over the past several years.
The reports included the controversial divestment of
telecommunications firm Indosat in 2002, the sale of Pertamina
tankers in 2004 and several other divestment programs.
Deputy Attorney General for Intelligence Basrief Arief said
his office had formed a team to study the reports.
"The reports include the divestment of Indosat several years
ago. We have to study the documents first. We have formed a team
for that. After that we will make a decision," said Basrief.
He also said that earlier complaints filed with the Attorney
General's Office against other high-ranking officials would also
be examined. They include complaints against Minister for Trade
and Industry Rini MS Soewandi and the former chairman of the now
defunct Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency, Syafruddin
Temenggung.
In a bid to raise cash to cover the budget deficit, the
government has sold its shares in several firms, including Bank
Central Asia and Indosat.
The sale of the government stake in Indosat to Singapore
Technologies Telemedia was heavily criticized, partly due to a
lack of transparency and alleged irregularities in the sale.
A number of legislators said at the time they would set up a
special team to investigate the transaction. However, no action
was taken.
Laksamana dismissed the corruption allegations on Monday,
saying all of the sales of state shares had been conducted in
accordance with the Constitution and all current laws.
"We have laws that regulate the process. I just execute the
programs. The government also has working committees comprising
several ministers. We also have to get legislators' approval. So,
it's not Laksamana doing the privatization," he said.
He added that if any divestment of a state company had the
potential to cause losses to the state, it would never have
proceeded because the House of Representatives would not have
approved the sale.