Pakpahan denies graft charges

Pakpahan denies graft charges

JAKARTA: Labor leader Muchtar Pakpahan denied on Wednesday
allegations that he had misused Rp 1.2 billion (US$ 114,176) of
state insurance company PT Jamsostek's funds allocated for the
construction of a training center of the Indonesian Prosperity
Trade Union (SBSI), which he leads.

The South Jakarta prosecutor's office declared on Dec. 24
Pakpahan a suspect for using the funds for other purposes without
the consent of members of the SBSI cooperative (Kopag SBSI), the
cooperative's other directors and PT Jamsostek.

Pakpahan said the funds had been used to pay back loans from
SBSI, the Social Democratic Labor Party, the cooperative's
publishing house and the cooperative itself. Kopag SBSI had to
use its members' money to finance the construction of the
training center, which had already commenced, as the funds from
PT Jamsostek were not available yet.

Kopag SBSI had requested funds from PT Jamsostek since June
2001, but received them only on Nov. 29, 2001, when the center's
construction was nearly finished, Pakpahan said.

The center was inaugurated on Jan. 11, 2002, at a total cost
of Rp 3.5 billion (US$ 411,764). -- Antara