Legislator's wife questioned over QSAR scam
Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung, West Java
Following hot on the heels of House of Representatives Speaker Akbar Tandjung's conviction for graft, the wife of House deputy speaker Tosari Wijaya is being questioned about her role in the massive financial scandal involving PT Qurnia Subur Alam Raya (QSAR).
West Java police chief Insp. Gen. Sudirman Ail said Friday Tosari's wife Matsusoh was allegedly in charge of a Purbolinggo, East Java-based subsidiary of the now bankrupt profit-sharing agribusiness company.
"(QSAR president) Ramli told police investigators that QSAR channeled some Rp 750 million to a subsidiary in Purbolinggo in which Ibu Matsusoh was a director," Sudirman said in Bandung on Friday.
Ramli, currently in police detention in Sukabumi, West Java, had been declared the main suspect in the financial scandal involving the alleged misuse of Rp 500 billion raised from 6,800 private investors.
Tosari, a member of the United Development Party (PPP), said earlier that he had invested an unspecified amount of money in QSAR but he never mentioned his wife's or his involvement in the venture.
He also said that he had invested Rp 5 billion belonging to PPP and around Rp 1.5 billion belonging to cooperatives associated with the Muslim-based political party.
Chief of the police team investigating the alleged scam, Adj. Sr. Com. Napitupulu, said that police planned to question Matsusoh again on Saturday.
Napitupulu refused to give details pending further investigation.
Sudirman said that police had found no hint yet of PPP's alleged investment of Rp 5 billion.
"Maybe yes (PPP invested Rp 5 billion), but the issue is still being discussed within PPP itself," said Sudirman, adding that QSAR's accounting system was a complete mess.
"Until now, we have found no evidence, only hearsay," he said.
He also stressed that police authorities would not investigate PPP's investment or Vice President Hamzah Haz's involvement in the scandal merely on hearsay.
Citing a report submitted by a police audit team, Sudirman said more 6,000 people had invested a total of Rp 486 billion in QSAR.
More than 4,200 investors have been identified.
According to Sudirman, the biggest difficulty faced by police was QSAR's appalling accounting system.
"We cannot know for sure how many investors put their money in the company. What is important now is that we record anyone who complains," he said.
Napitupulu said data on affiliated companies, assets, and financial reports had been destroyed by QSAR before the scandal surfaced.
"That is why the recapitalization of asset inventory and investors data is difficult to trace," he said.
Police have already confiscated 200 hectares of land and 340 car units.
Sudirman said assets confiscated by police investigators would be returned to investors once the investigation was completed.
He urged investors who confiscated QSAR's assets to return them to the police to smooth the investigation process.
"If investors insist they will not return assets, we will take them by force," he stressed.
People's Consultative Assembly chairman Amien Rais suggested earlier this week that police stop efforts to bring the company's executives to court although he admitted that Ramli had misused public funds.