Police grill Nabiel about alleged pollution in Buyat

Police grill Nabiel about alleged pollution in Buyat

Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The National Police questioned former state minister of the
environment Nabiel Makarim for five hours on Monday in connection
with alleged pollution in Buyat Bay, North Sulawesi, where PT
Newmont Minahasa Raya ceased operations late August.

Nabiel could be named a suspect in the case if investigators
found sufficient evidence that was complicit in covering up the
alleged contamination in the bay, National Police director of
specific crime department Brig. Gen. Suharto said.

The former minister in Megawati Soekarnoputri's administration
arrived at about 10 a.m. for questioning and left the National
Police Headquarters at 3:30 p.m. through the back door. He made
no comment about the case.

"As a former minister responsible for monitoring activities of
PT Newmont, which could have led to pollution in Buyat Bay,
Nabiel must know whether the company had complied with
regulations or not," Suharto said.

He said Nabiel should clarify whether the company had
submitted reports of ecological risk assessment (ERA) regularly
to his office as required by regulations.

He said the questioning of Nabiel was also aimed at completing
the case file of five suspects, all Newmont executives, which was
recently returned by the North Sulawesi Prosecutor's Office to
the police due to lack of evidence.

Apart from Nabiel, the police would also summon more experts
this week to provide scientific explanations on sampling methods
the police used during their investigation into the Buyat Bay
case, Suharto said.

The results of the planned questioning would be included in
the case file before being resubmitted to the prosecutors, he
said.

Based on forensic laboratory tests in August, the police
charged Newmont with contaminating Buyat Bay in Minahasa, as it
was the only mining firm operating in the area for eight years
until August.

The police findings showed heavy metals in the bay exceeded
the safety levels set by Nabiel's office.

The police named five Newmont employees -- American Bill Long,
Australian Phil Turner, and three Indonesians David Sompie, Jerry
Kojansow, and Putra Jayatri -- as suspects and detained them in
late September.

However, all of them were released last Saturday following a
week of Newmont's campaign against their arrests in addition to
the requests for the suspects' freedom by their families, the
North Sulawesi governor and the province's mining and energy
department head of legal affairs.

Newmont president Richard B. Ness was also declared a suspect
in the case. He was briefly held but later freed due to health
reasons.

Suharto said the five suspects were recently released because
they were needed in arrangements of the U.S.-based mining firm's
closure that started at the end of August.

"Besides, we don't need to question them anymore," he argued.

Newmont has repeatedly denied the pollution allegations
against it, pointing out the outcome of several independent
laboratory tests, such as those carried out by the Minamata
Institute of Japan which concluded that the bay was not polluted
by heavy metals.

A joint government team comprising experts from Nabiel's
office, the Ministry of Health and the police, as well as other
related agencies, is expected to give results soon of its own
investigation into the Buyat Bay case.