No indication of criminal act in Busang case: Police

JAKARTA (JP): Preliminary investigations into the Busang scandal have so far not found any indication of criminal acts committed in Indonesia.

The head of the National Police Headquarters general information department, Col. Bambang Haryoko, said yesterday the investigation team was still examining evidence.

Bambang said preliminary investigations were hard because the case was complex.

"There are lots of things in this case which first need to be clarified," Bambang said.

"Accordingly, the rapid completion of the preliminary investigation depends very much on the availability of data and evidence, as well as the readiness of sources to provide all the required information," Bambang said.

He refused to say who or what the sources of data were.

A team of National Police detectives and Ministry of Mines and Energy experts have been investigating for a week.

The directorate of economic affairs' chief detective, Col. Arifin Rachim, is the team's leader.

The team was set up when independent Canadian consultant, Strathcona Mineral Services, confirmed suspicions that there was no gold at the Busang site in East Kalimantan.

Canadian exploration firm Bre-X Minerals Ltd had said Busang contained just under 71 million ounces of gold, which have made it the find of the century.

Bambang said the team had not yet gone to East Kalimantan because "many of the facts regarding the scandal are available in Jakarta".

It was still necessary to clarify why Bre-X claimed there was gold at Busang, where the hoax took place, who had carried out the hoax and who had been cheated and suffered losses, he said.

Although the team would investigate the possibility of collusion, Bambang said "it's not that simple. Can we say that there was an act of collusion just because the authorities had given chances or memos allowing Bre-X, in its capacity as a mining company, to follow up its proposal on the gold mine?"

Yesterday Antara reported that Bre-X Minerals would sell its assets in Jakarta, Kalimantan, Aceh and North Sulawesi so it could meet its financial obligations.

These include US$600,000 in severance pay for 480 Bre-X employees in Indonesia and Canada who were laid-off this week.

Police and local military officers have secured the company's base camp in East Kalimantan after recent trouble between company executives and employees.

Bambang said he had received no reports on police activities at Busang.

Hundreds of employees at the Busang I camp had reportedly held members of the Bre-X management following a proposed layoff.

About 400 of the workers in Muara Ancalong have been anxious about their fate following the freezing of all company activities.

Local military commander, Aji Suryanata Kesuma, said that it was unlikely that the management members were being held as captives. "It's only because they want the company to fulfill its obligation to workers who are facing layoff." (cst)