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)