Newmont's Ness, five others detained
Abdul Khalik The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
President Director of PT Newmont Minahasa Raya (MNR) Richard Bruce Ness and five other company officers have been placed in police detention despite the fact that they have been cooperating with the police investigation into alleged pollution in Buyat bay.
Ness and Phil Turner, Newmont's production and maintenance manager, were detained after undergoing ten hours of questioning on Thursday.
Four others -- site manager Bill Long, external relations manager David Sompie, environment superintendent Jerry Kojansow and waste processing superintendent Putra Wijayanti -- were taken into police custody on Wednesday evening.
Police had earlier charged the six as suspects in the pollution case.
The National Police's director of specific crimes, Brig. Gen. Suharto, said on Thursday that the police had established sufficient prima facie evidence to detain all of the suspects until their case files were complete.
"It is easier for us to question them if they are all here as we won't have to send out summonses every time we need them. This will allow us to complete the investigation faster," said Suharto.
Suharto said the police expected to finish the case files on the suspects in less than two weeks pending explanations from a number of other experts, including Muladi, an environmental law expert from the University of Diponegoro, Semarang, Central Java.
Newmont expressed concern over the police's decision to detain Ness and five other company officers, saying that the company had guaranteed that it would fully cooperate with the police in their investigations.
"PT NMR believes that these detentions are unnecessary as the company has guaranteed it will cooperate fully, and the employees have always complied with police summonses," the company said in a statement on Thursday.
"NMR fully supports its employees and their family members and will take legal steps to secure their release from detention," it said.
Newmont has been accused of polluting Buyat bay, where it has been dumping its tailings since 1996. The police say their forensic tests found that the level of heavy metals in Buyat bay exceeded the safety levels set by the Office of the State Minister for the Environment.
The company has denied the pollution allegations but local and international media have shown pictures of villagers living close to the mine with skin diseases and large lumps they claim were caused by pollution from the mine.
The government has formed a joint team comprising officials from the Office of the State Minister for the Environment, the Ministry of Health and the police to take more samples from the bay.
The police had earlier announced that all of the suspects had been charged under Articles 41, 42, 43, 44, and 46 of Law No. 23/1997 on environmental pollution caused by an individual.
Under this law, an individual who deliberately contaminates the environment is liable to 10 years in prison while if his conduct causes harm or injury to human beings, he or she is liable to 15 years in prison.
Suharto said on Thursday that the police would question the State Minister for the Environment, Nabiel Makarim, on Friday as to whether the company had submitted regular reports on its waste disposal system and whether the company had fulfilled other ministry requirements.