President's son mute on graft allegation

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The President's son and the State Secretary have refused to comment on a real estate contract between the State Secretariat and the first family that was not put up for tender.

When The Jakarta Post tried Wednesday to get his side of the story, Mohammad Rizky Pratama retorted: "I have nothing to say on the issue."

Pratama is the eldest son of Megawati Soekarnoputri from her first husband, the late Airforce Capt. Surindro.

State/Cabinet Secretary Bambang Kesowo tried to distance himself from the issue, saying the Jakarta Fairground was not under his office's supervision.

"It is not our business ... ask those who know about it," Bambang said at the State Palace on Wednesday.

The 44-hectare fairground is managed by the State Secretariat.

The case came to light following a finding by an ad hoc team from the House of Representatives that a contract awarded to Pratama, known as Tatam, was conducted without a public tender. The team was tasked to investigate the management of the Jakarta Fairground in Kemayoran.

Team chairman Effendy Choiri said Tatam had the privilege of controlling 30 of the 44 hectares of land.

He said Tatam and his business partner who run PT Theda Persada Nusantara would construct plush apartments, a shopping center and a hypermarket on the land.

Tatam's business partners reportedly include The Hok Bing (a businessman from Surabaya and the company's president director), Samingun (director of Agriculture Pension Fund and the company's commissioner) and Li Zhaoling (a Chinese businessperson associated with the Beijing Returned Overseas Chinese Federation Partners).

Effendy said that in the contract signed on July 29, 2003 the parties had different obligations in the construction and Li had provided a US$700 million bank warranty for the project.

The Jakarta Fairground once served as a domestic airport, before it came under the jurisdiction of the State Secretariat in the late 1980s and was transformed into a fairground.

In 2000, the International Trade Fair (JITF), owned by tycoon Edward Soeryajaya, was appointed as the organizer of the annual Jakarta Fair on the land.

Most parts of Kemayoran is run by the Kemayoran New Town Authority (DPPPKK), under the State Secretariat. It is not clear when the authority took control of the ground.

In a related development, the House team summoned businesswoman Hartati Murdaya on Wednesday to ask her about her dispute with Edward Soeryajaya over a contract in Kemayoran.

Tempointeractive reported that in a closed-door session, Hartati revealed that JITF owed US$124 million to the Jakarta Development Cooperation (JDC).

The House is planning to summon Tatam as well as Abdul Muis, director of the Jakarta Fairground management board, and Ratna Sintawati Tantudjojo, a notary public for the agreement.