Probes into Bakrie, Kalla firms dropped

Probes into Bakrie, Kalla firms dropped

Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

The Attorney General's Office (AGO) decided on Friday to halt its
graft investigations into cement company PT Semen Bosowa Maros
and telecommunications firm PT Bakrie Telecom, both of which are
linked to influential people in the government.

Deputy Attorney General for Special Crimes Hendarman Supandji
told reporters that the prosecutors had found no indications of
banking law violations in the extending of Bank Mandiri loans to
the two firms.

"Based on a report from the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK), we've
found no potential losses to the state in relation to the loans
given to these companies. We have informed the BPK of this and it
has accepted our findings," Hendarman said.

Hendarman denied suggestions that the decision was politically
motivated as the owners of the firms were top government
officials.

PT Semen Bosowa is owned by a nephew (Erwin Aksa) of the
country's Vice President Jusuf Kalla, while Coordinating Minister
for the Economy Aburizal Bakrie owns Barkie Telecom.

The AGO initially planned to investigate around 28 companies,
including the two well-connected firms, in connection with
alleged irregularities in the extending of loans worth over Rp 12
trillion (US$1.28 billion).

The investigation of the graft allegations is seen by many as
test case of the Susilo administration's commitment to curbing
endemic corruption.

So far, the AGO has been focusing its investigation on four
corporate borrowers, including PT Cipta Graha Nusantara/Tahta
Medan (CGN/TM), PT Siak Zamrud Pusaka (SZP), PT Lativi Media
Karya (LMK) and PT Artha Bhama Texindo/Artha Tri Mustika Texindo
(ABM/ATM).

Top officers from PT CGN/TM and PT SZP have been detained as
suspects along with three of Bank Mandiri's top officials, while
the AGO is currently questioning Lativi's vice president, Harun
Suwardono.

"The investigation has been going on for more than one month
and we still have no suspects from Lativi or ATM/ABM yet. Thus, I
have asked my investigators to speed up their work and try to
name suspects next week," Hendarman said.

Meanwhile, another corporate borrower, PT Kiani Kertas, will
soon come under the spotlight as the AGO has identified
indications of corruption upon its reading of a BPK report.

"I received the report from the BPK recently and it shows that
there were irregularities in the extending of loans to this firm,
which could entail criminal aspects," Hendarman said.

Separately, Hendarman, who is also the head of the
presidential anticorruption team, said the team would focus its
investigations on five cases at the state enterprise and
governmental levels -- state oil and gas firm PT Pertamina,
social insurance firm PT Jamsostek, the management of the Gelora
Bung Karno sports complex, the management of the State
Secretariat and the Ministry of Religious Affairs.

Although the team had not finished its preliminary
investigations into the five cases, it had uncovered indications
of corruption at the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Jamsostek.

However, Hendarman refused to disclose the types of corruption
involved or the amount of state losses that ensured, although he
hinted that corruption had been identified in the management of
the haj pilgrimage fund.

"I have submitted files on both cases to the National Police,
and pak Indarto (head of the anticorruption unit at National
Police Headquarters) will handle the cases from here on in,"
Hendarman said.