Prosecutor demands two years for Tommy
JAKARTA (JP): Prosecutors asked the South Jakarta District Court on Monday to sentence the two key figures in wholesale firm Goro's land exchange deal with the State Logistics Agency (Bulog), Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra and Ricardo Gelael, to two years in jail and order them to repay Rp 28.15 billion the state lost in the transaction.
Prosecutors read their demands at the separate trials of the two suspects. Fachmi is leading the prosecution against Tommy and Dachamer Munthe is prosecuting the case against Ricardo.
Tommy, former president Soeharto's youngest son, was the president commissioner of PT Goro Batara Sakti, while Ricardo was president director of the wholesale firm.
In their statements, Fachmi and Munthe said the two defendants caused the state to suffer Rp 95.4 billion in losses.
"Goro could not repay its Rp 23 billion debt to Bank Bukopin. Its failure to settle the debt caused Bulog, which deposited Rp 23 billion in the bank, to suffer losses after the bank seized the deposited money," said Fachmi in the trial presided over by judge R. Soenarto.
Fachmi said Goro also owed Rp 32.5 billion to Bulog, which gave the money to the wholesale firm to appropriate a 71-hectare plot of land in Marunda, North Jakarta. The plot in Marunda was exchanged for Bulog's 50-hectare plot of land in Kelapa Gading, also in North Jakarta.
Fachmi also said the defendant's renovation of 11 of 16 warehouses on the Kelapa Gading land caused the state Rp 10.1 billion in losses. He said an agreement between Goro and Bulog allowed the wholesale firm to use the 16 warehouses.
Fachmi said Goro also failed to pay rental fees amounting to Rp 6.2 billion for the five remaining warehouses.
He said the state lost another Rp 23.5 billion when Bulog was unable to use its eight hectares of the 50-hectare plot in Kelapa Gading after Goro established its main office on the land.
He said Tommy violated Article 28 of Law No. 3/1971 on Corruption, which carries a maximum punishment of 20 years in jail.
"The defendant is still young and he has never committed any crimes before," Fachmi said when explaining his demand for a two- year jail sentence.
In Ricardo's trial, presided over by judge Djalius Amin, Munthe also charged the defendant with violating Article 28 of the Corruption Law.
When asked about his grounds for demanding a two-year jail term for Ricardo, Munthe said the final decision was in the judges' hands.
"I agree that there should be different treatment for the two defendants, but it's up to the judges to decide," he said.
Both judges adjourned the trials until next Wednesday, at which time the defense lawyers will read their statements. (asa)