Probosutedjo grilled over marked up loan

Probosutedjo grilled over marked up loan

JAKARTA (JP): Businessman Probosutedjo appeared at the
Attorney General's Office on Wednesday to clarify his alleged
involvement in the marking up of a loan obtained from the
government's reforestation fund.

Probosutedjo, who is a younger step-brother of former
president Soeharto, denied the allegation, saying that the entire
amount of Rp 144 billion (US$15.2 million), which he received in
1994, had been used by his timber company PT Menara Hutan Buana
to manage a 71,000-hectare estate.

"There was no markup (in the proposal) for the soft loan
obtained from the reforestation fund ... it's not true. I have
all the evidence," Probosutedjo, who was a forest concessionaire
when the loan was disbursed in 1994, told journalists after more
than four hours of questioning.

The case is one of a number of corruption cases reported by
the Ministry of Forestry and Plantations as part of its efforts
to recover massive amounts of misused reforestation funds, and to
eradicate corruption in the ministry.

Indonesian Corruption Watch had earlier submitted its
investigation results to the ministry alleging that Probosutedjo
had asked for the loan to sustain a 268,585-hectare estate in
South Kalimantan based upon a reference from Soeharto.

PT Menara Hutan Buana, which manages an 80,000-hectare estate,
was a joint venture between Probosutedjo's PT Mercu Buana and
state-owned forestry company PT Inhutani II. In 1999,
Probosutedjo bought out Inhutani II's stake and became the
outright owner. (bby)