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.