Prosecutors cut short Tutut's questioning on pipeline scam

JAKARTA (JP): The questioning of Siti Hardijanti "Tutut" Rukmana, a suspect in an alleged markup of state oil company Pertamina pipeline project, was cut short due to her experiencing respiratory problems on Friday.

The lawyer representing the daughter of former president Soeharto, Amir Syamsuddin, said his client needed an oxygen mask after a tiring session of seven hours, but the device did not work.

"She usually carries the oxygen mask but has never worn it until tonight. She has not had enough rest since her father was hospitalized," Amir told The Jakarta Post.

Unlike the two previous questioning sessions, Tutut got directly into her waiting Mitsubishi Nimbus car and left the prosecutor's office speechless minutes after 9 p.m.

Tutut is accused of ballooning the budget for the construction of a pipeline in Java for Pertamina awarded to her company PT Trihasra Bimanusa Tunggal in 1986.

Amir said the prosecutors focused their questions on whether his client's involvement was necessary in all her company's activities.

"They questioned whether it was necessary for a commissioner to sign contracts. The company's statute regulates that my client should have a say in contract amendments or particular projects which involve foreign investors," he added.

Tutut in her capacity as a PT Trihasra's commissioner signed a proposal which claimed that the company had completed 14.4 percent of the work after the US$306 million project was halted in 1992 due to lack of foreign funds.

Pertamina paid some $36.69 million in part performance.

It turned out that only 6.4 percent of the work had been completed, with an estimated value of only $14 million.

Tutut had dismissed the accusations, saying that the performance assessment of PT Trihasra was in accordance with Pertamina certified benchmarks.

In another development, Attorney General's Office spokesman Muljohardjo said his office had yet to respond to an appeal for a review lodged by prosecutor Anang S. Basuni, who had been dismissed for allegedly taking bribes while handling graft cases in Pertamina.

Three intelligence prosecutors were punished on Sept. 18 last year after an internal investigation found them guilty of violating the law on civil state employees.

While Anang was dismissed, Ibnu Haryadi and Charles Mooi had their promotion suspended for one year.

Muljohardjo said that both Ibnu and Charles had also challenged the decision and appealed for a review but had been rejected.

The three were the office team assigned to help Pertamina internal affairs unit examine several corruption-tainted projects.

Muljohardjo revealed that on Aug. 4, 2000 Pertamina president Baihaki Hakim reported that Anang had tried to bribe Pertamina's internal affairs inspector with Rp 200 million (some $21,000) in cash on July 13.

"Prosecutor ANB put the money into the Pertamina official's desk in order that the company would not investigate a case involving a company PT TPI," he said, adding that both PT TPI and the three prosecutors had denied the allegations. (bby)