Legislators to question Bambang Tri on Banpres
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
An investigation into irregularities in the Presidential Aid Fund (Banpres) is widening, with House of Representatives members planning to summon former president Soeharto's son Bambang Trihatmodjo and businessman Bambang Riyadi Sugama.
House Commission I member Djoko Susilo said on Thursday the two would be summoned as members of the Sea Games Consortium, which borrowed Rp 70 billion from the Banpres in 1997 and still has not repaid the money.
"The House will summon the two businessmen as soon as possible to demand that they return the money to the state," Djoko said after questioning former assistant state secretary Bambang Sutanto over the matter.
Djoko, who is a member of the Commission I team set up to look into abuses of Banpres, refused to say exactly when his team would question the two men.
The Sea Games Consortium was established to organize and sponsor the biannual sports event involving member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which Indonesia hosted in 1997. Most consortium members were family members and associates of former president Soeharto.
Bambang Sutanto, who administered the fund from 1996 to June 2000, said on Thursday that Soeharto ordered him to give Rp 70 billion to the consortium.
"As far as I can remember, they never returned the money to the state," said Bambang, who now works in the Vice Presidential Office.
He also told the House team that the Tapos plantation received Rp 6.7 billion from the fund, which has not been repaid. Tapos is owned by Soeharto.
Bambang Sutanto was the fifth former and current state official summoned by the House during its investigation into irregularities in Banpres, a fund established by Soeharto in 1984.
The investigation was triggered by President Megawati Soekarnoputri's announcement earlier this year that she had given Rp 30 billion to the Indonesian Military and the National Police to build housing for their personnel.
Megawati originally failed to reveal the source of the money, stirring speculation that Megawati's camp was illegally collecting funds from the public to buy the military and police's support in the 2004 general election.
State/Cabinet Secretary Bambang Kesowo belatedly told the House in May that the money was taken from Banpres. His explanation prompted House Commission I to investigate irregularities in Banpres.
The House has already summoned former state secretaries Moerdiono, Muladi and Ali Rachman, and former presidential secretary Abdul Mudjib Manan. Bondan Gunawan, Djohan Effendy and current State Secretary Bambang Kesowo are scheduled to be summoned next week.
Bambang Sutanto said there was some Rp 476 billion and US$14 million in Banpres when he handed it over to his successor Djohan Effendy in June 2000.
He also said President Megawati, in the beginning of her tenure last year, ordered Bambang Kesowo to combine the fund and hand it over to the Ministry of Finance.
"Bambang Kesowo returned the fund to the Ministry of Finance in May this year," Bambang Sutanto said.