Presidential approval sought to grill Akbar in land case
Presidential approval sought to grill Akbar in land case
JAKARTA (JP): The Attorney General's Office will ask for
presidential approval next week to question the House of
Representatives speaker Akbar Tandjung, who is a suspect in a
land scam.
Such approval is being sought to pave the way for national
police detectives to summon Akbar, who is accused of forging land
titles for 23 hectares of land in Srengseng, Kebon Jeruk, West
Jakarta in 1995.
The Attorney General office's spokesman Muljohardjo told
reporters on Friday that the office received the police's request
on Feb. 16, and would forward the request to President
Abdurrahman Wahid next week.
He said his office had not immediately forwarded the request
to the President because they had to initially seek clarification
on several obscure pieces of information in the police's report.
"We discovered ambiguities in the letter, including the fact
that the case may be considered statute-barred as it started more
than 12 years ago. So we have to coordinate this with the
police," he added.
The case centers on the selling of a piece of land in
Srengseng in 1983. The land belonged to Akbar's elder brother,
the late Dato Usman Zahiruddin, who sold it to several buyers,
including the city administration, who converted it into a public
park.
Kurnia Ananda, who is Zahiruddin's son, filed a complaint to
the police in 1995, saying that Akbar had sold the land without
the heirs' consent.
Akbar, whose full name is Djanji Akbar Zahiruddin Tandjung,
was the minister of public housing during the period in question.
On Friday, Akbar said at his office that he objected to him
being named a suspect but will fulfill the police summons to
provide clarification on the case.
"I have sent my lawyer to tell the state prosecutors of my
objection to being declared a suspect as there is no legal
justification to it... I wasn't involved in the land purchase."
Also on Friday, the Attorney General's Office named tycoon
Johannes Budi Sutrisno Kotjo, a commissioner of textile company
PT Apac Century Co. (PT ACen) as a suspect for marking up the
purchase of textile machines in 1995 by using state funds.
Kotjo bought machines which were the assets of textile company
Kanindotex Group, belonging to Robby Tjahjadi, to meet a
requirement that PT ACen should provide new machines when taking
over and restructuring Kanindotex.
PT ACen is owned by former president Soeharto's son Bambang
Trihatmodjo.
The state prosecutors questioned the commissioner of PT Bank
Umum Nasional Kaharuddin Ongko and its president Leonard
Tanubrata as suspects for the misuse of the liquidity support of
the Bank Indonesia.
The government channeled some Rp 144.5 trillion in liquidity
support to 48 banks between 1997 and 1999 to help them through
the economic crisis, but an investigation by the Supreme Audit
Agency (BPK) reveals that Rp 138.4 trillion (95 percent) of it
had either been misused or extensions had violated banking rules.
The prosecutors had named several prominent businessmen as
suspects, but only one case involving Bank Aspac has been brought
to trial.
Three former Bank Indonesia directors, Hendro Budiyanto, Heru
Supraptomo and Paul Soetopo, have been named suspects for abusing
their power in extending emergency loans. Hendro and Heru, who
are believed to have played a more prominent role in the scandal
than Paul, are now being detained at the AGO's offices. (bby/dja)