Prosecutors cut short Tutut's questioning on pipeline scam

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)