More questions than answers as Akbar summoned in Buloggate II

More questions than answers as Akbar summoned in Buloggate II

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The House of Representatives (DPR) Speaker Akbar Tandjung
expressed on Thursday what seemed to be further inconsistencies
when he was questioned for the second time to clarify his role in
a scandal involving the State Logistics Agency (Bulog).

The ongoing investigation into the alleged misuse of Rp 40
billion (US$4 million) of Bulog funds in 1999 is being conducted
by the Attorney General's Office (AGO).

"The hand over of the checks totaling Rp 40 billion took place
at my office, but I never physically received the funds. It was
the Raudlatul Jannah Foundation, which directly received them
from Pak Ruskandar," Akbar told reporters, referring to the
former Bulog deputy chief of finance Achmad Ruskandar, who on
Monday contradicted many crucial Akbar statements.

"The checks were put on my desk by Pak Ruskandar and then I
asked Dadang Sukandar, chairman of the foundation, to immediately
take them," Akbar said, adding that the disbursement of the
checks was done between March 2, 1999 and April 20, 1999.

Earlier Akbar had reportedly said that Dadang had recieved the
funds directly and also that the hand over never took place in
his own office.

The handover of the money was reportedly done in two stages.
The first one consisted of two checks, each valued at Rp 10
billion, and the second four checks were worth Rp 3 billion each
and four other checks were valued at Rp 2 billion each.

Akbar, who is also chairman of the Golkar Party, added that he
never made any promise to Ruskandar to issue receipts. "I never
received the funds so there was no need for me to make the
receipts," he said.

Akbar was questioned for the second time at the AGO as a
witness in the alleged misuse of the funds. The prime suspect in
the case is the former Bulog chief Rahardi Ramelan.

Akbar's case is an integral part of the Bulog scam worth some
Rp 54.6 billion which named several executives of Golkar,
including the House speaker, former president B.J. Habibie,
Rahardi, Golkar Chairman Fadel Muhamad, Treasurer Marimutu
Manimaren, Secretary Mohammad S. Hidayat as well as former
military commander Gen. (ret.) Wiranto.

In his first AGO summons on Oct. 31, Akbar denied
responsibility over the use of the funds, saying that "he only
witnessed the handover of the funds from Ruskandar to Dadang."

Akbar said the funds were spent on basic commodities for the
people most affected by the economic crisis.

Ruskandar, however, made the most damaging statement at the
AGO on Tuesday when he said that he had personally given the
checks directly to Akbar in his capacity as the state
secretary/Cabinet secretary.

He added that he had never heard of the foundation, nor its
chairman, Dadang.

Just hours after Ruskandar made his statement, Akbar was quick
to respond by saying that he had personally received the funds
from Ruskandar in 1999, but insisted, "I soon thereafter passed
them on to a social organization called Raudlatul Jannah
Foundation."

When asked about this apparent inconsistency on Thursday,
Akbar claimed, "This is the truth. I will not tell any lies
during the fasting period."

As earlier reported, Rahardi asserted that Akbar received Rp
40 billion from Bulog, while Wiranto was given another Rp 10
billion and the remaining Rp 4.6 billion was used to fund a land-
swap deal between Bulog and PT Goro Batara Sakti the group
belonging to Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, the fugitive son of
former president Soeharto.

Habibie was unable to heed the summons on Wednesday but
admitted in a written statement that he had approved the
disbursement of the Rp 50 billion, but denied responsibility for
the remaining Rp 4.6 billion. He also said that the humanitarian
deliveries were necessary because his government would have been
blamed if it had not done anything to help the needy.

The policy was consistent with Presidential Decree No.
190/1998 on the establishment of a task force for the improvement
of a social safety net. Based on the decree, the President
directly controls a team of supervisors and a team of controllers
for such a project.

The decree also clearly stipulates that 12 cabinet ministers
be appointed as members of the team of supervisors. However, the
decree does not include the state secretary/Cabinet secretary as
a member of either team.