'No food packing by Raudlatul Jannah'

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Two witnesses in a graft case in which Akbar Tandjung is a suspect, denied on Friday that any temporary buildings were ever set up at Cipinang Market from March 1999 to September 1999 as was previously claimed by the Raudlatul Jannah Foundation, a little known organization that Akbar claimed to have received Rp 40 billion from the State Logistics Agency (Bulog).

Nukman Supriadi, chief of Pisangan Timur subdistrict, and Nasion Baktino, head of the Cipinang rice market, told prosecutors on Friday they never saw any buildings allegedly used to accommodate 12 tons of rice packed and distributed by Raudlatul Jannah Foundation to those most affected by the economic crisis in 1999.

"The witnesses revealed that there were no such activities for the food distribution project organized by Raudlatul Jannah Foundation at the Cipinang market," the Attorney General's Office spokesman Muljohardjo told reporters on Friday.

Both Nukman and Nasion were questioned as witnesses in a Rp 40 billion financial scandal involving House Speaker Akbar Tandjung.

Also questioned on Thursday was former Bulog chief Rahardi Ramelan, the main suspect in the financial scandal. He told reporters on Friday that it was still unknown who proposed the amount of Rp 40 billion for the social safety net project.

The statements Nukman and Nasion contradicted, were made earlier by the Raudlatul Jannah Foundation and may force state prosecutors go in another direction to find where the Rp 40 billion of state funds actually went.

Akbar is accused of taking Rp 40 billion from Bulog in 1999. Akbar, who served as minister/state secretary under the administration of former president B.J. Habibie, claimed that the money was used to provide food for the poor in five provinces in Java and that the food distribution was handled by the Raudlatul Jannah Foundation.

But, investigations by the Attorney General's Office showed no trace of food distribution in those provinces, prompting it to declare Akbar, who is also the Golkar Party chairman, a suspect.

Meanwhile, the Attorney General's Office imposed a travel ban on hotelier Sukamdani Sahid Gitosardjono, owner of the now defunct Bank Dagang Industri, and the bank's director Adriansyah Omar Maki, for allegedly misusing Rp 418 billion of Bank Indonesia's liquidity support to the bank from 1997 to 1999.

The state prosecutors also imposed a one-year travel ban starting last Tuesday on Tabrani Ismail, former director of management at the state's oil and gas company Pertamina, for involvement in the marking up of the Exxon-Balongan project.