No losses in Goro case: Witnesses

JAKARTA (JP): Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, the youngest son of former president Soeharto charged for his alleged role in a Rp 95.4 billion (US$10.9 million) land scam, smiled on Monday when two witnesses said nobody suffered any losses in the case.

The two witnesses from the State Logistics Agency (Bulog), Ruskandar and M. Noor, told the South Jakarta District Court that they retracted their statements in earlier dossiers that the agency suffered losses in its cooperation with wholesaler PT Goro Batara Sakti, in which Tommy held shares.

"Bulog even gained profits after the cooperation was canceled this year," Ruskandar, the agency's deputy chief in charge of finance, said.

Asked by presiding judge R. Soenarto whether he had been intimidated when giving a statement to investigators, Ruskandar said no, adding that he only realized later that the agency suffered no losses after the cooperation was canceled by Bulog's new chief, Rahardi Ramelan, in March, this year.

He acknowledged that he was questioned in December in connection with alleged corruption in an exchange agreement of Bulog's 50-hectare plot of land in Kelapa Gading warehouse complex, North Jakarta.

The agreement required Goro to provide another 150-hectare plot of land in Marunda, North Jakarta, in exchange for the Kelapa Gading land, he said.

Although Goro only provided 71 hectares in Marunda, Ruskandar said Bulog still profited from the deal since the Kelapa Gading land had been returned to the agency.

He said Bulog did not violate any law when it gave a guarantee of Rp 23 billion to Goro to get a loan of Rp 20 billion from Bank Bukopin. The loan was then used to buy some of the Marunda land.

Judge Soenarto repeatedly chided Ruskandar for giving unnecessary explanations when answering the questions of prosecutor Fachmi. "Just say true or not."

Several visitors booed Ruskandar.

The other witness, M. Noor, who is Bulog's regional inspector, gave a similar testimony on Monday.

"I said that Bulog suffered losses in December before the cooperation was canceled this year," said Noor, who was head of the Jakarta Logistics Agency (Dolog Jaya) when the agreement was signed in 1995.

He said the land exchange was decided through an open tender and was approved by Soeharto.

Prosecutor Fachmi, who presented the two witnesses to the court, regretted Ruskandar's contradictory statements.

"Let the panel of judges evaluate the testimonies," Fachmi said.

Wearing a brown batik shirt and black trousers, Tommy said he had no objection to the witnesses' testimonies.

Judge Soenarto adjourned the trial until next week to hear other testimonies. (jun)