Probo to sue government for 'baseless' charge

Probo to sue government for 'baseless' charge

JAKARTA (JP): Businessman Probosutedjo, a half brother of
former president Soeharto, is threatening to sue the Ministry of
Forestry and Plantations for defamation.

M. Thamrin of Thamrin-Djoko Anggono & Partner said that his
client, more popularly called Probo, was preparing documents for
the suit.

He said the ministry's accusation that his client was involved
in reforestation fraud was groundless.

"Probo has never been summoned nor named a suspect in any case
by a court of law or the Attorney General's Office... The
ministry's report is groundless and misleading," he was quoted by
Antara as saying.

Djoko Anggono said the ministry accused Probo of misusing some
Rp 144.4 billion (US$20 million) in reforestation funds through
his industrial forest estate PT Menara Hutan Buana in South
Kalimantan.

He said his law firm was informed by the office of the
director for corruption cases at the Attorney General's Office
last month that Probosutedjo, however, was not on the list of
suspects in corruption cases currently investigated by the
office.

He said the ministry's accusation affected Probo's reputation
and disrupted his business activities.

"We will sue the ministry for its untrue accusation. It may
take some time to prepare all the necessary documents, but we
will certainly do it." Djoko did not give a time frame for the
lawsuit.

The Ministry of Forestry and Plantations announced in late
January that it had submitted to the Attorney General's Office a
full report on alleged corruption and misuse of reforestation
funds totaling some Rp 784 billion involving major forest
concession holders such as Probo, Soeharto's eldest daughter Siti
"Tutut" Hardijanti Rukmana, Soeharto's close friends Mohamad
"Bob" Hasan and Prajogo Pangestu and Ibrahim Risjad.

The ministry said a team of seven prosecutors from the
Attorney General's Office was established to further investigate
the report's findings on their involvement in the corruption
cases.

The report alleged that Probo received preferential treatment
by then president Soeharto and the state secretary in obtaining
reforestation funds. Probosutedjo allegedly manipulated the use
of some Rp 144.40 billion of reforestation funds he received
through PT Menara Hutan Buana, which controls about 268,885
hectares of area in South Kalimantan.

The report also said Tutut and Prajogo, who controlled some
stakes at industrial forest estate developer PT Musi Hutan
Persada in South Sumatra, had allegedly manipulated documents
regarding the size of the company's 193,500 hectares in order to
obtain more reforestation funds. Prajogo and Tutut allegedly
misused about Rp 346.87 billion of reforestation funds.

The report also alleged that Bob Hasan, had allegedly misused
Rp 207.81 billion in reforestation funds he received for his
industrial forest estate PT Surya Hutani Jaya.

Ibrahim Risjad allegedly diverted reforestation funds of Rp
85.36 billion provided by the government for his industrial
forest developer PT Aceh Nusa Indrapuri for uses including to
purchase space at the Menara Batavia building, the report said.

Businesspeople were allowed to borrow reforestation funds to
develop industrial forests, but many of them diverted the funds
for other business purposes.(cst)