Rahardi mulls quitting Golkar over conviction

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Former trade minister Rahardi Ramelan said on Thursday that he was considering resigning from the Golkar Party after he was convicted of corruption and given a two-year prison sentence.

Speaking to journalists, Rahardi said he would soon relinquish his position as a senior member of Golkar's central supervisory board.

"The Golkar Party is in fact not the right place to express my political interests. I will resign as a supervisory board member and decide later whether I should quit Golkar altogether," he told the official Antara news agency.

Rahardi complained that none of Golkar's executives were present at his trial to show support for him, unlike the court hearing for party chairman and House of Representatives Speaker Akbar Tandjung, who was sentenced to three years in jail for a similar case.

"From before the trial until today, I truly feel there is no support whatsoever from the Golkar Party and I will no longer express my political interests through Golkar," Rahardi said.

"Even though the case and the verdict handed down to him (Akbar) contained a political motive, I would not ask for political defense from Golkar," he said.

The former ruling party, used by former president Soeharto as his political vehicle to retain power for 32 years until 1988, is suspected of benefiting from the State Logistics Agency (Bulog) funds at the center of the corruption charges against Rahardi and Akbar.

The South Jakarta District Court sentenced on Tuesday Rahardi, 62, to two years in prison for graft involving Rp 5 billion (US$562,000) in funds from Bulog.

The panel of judges said that Rp 4.6 billion was used to pay a bank guarantee over a land swap deal between PT Goro Batara Sakti -- a company originally owned by Soeharto's youngest son Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra -- and Bulog, and that Ramelan did not have the authority to pay it.

As the former head of Bulog, Rahardi was originally charged with graft involving Rp 62.9 billion from the agency.

Last September, the Central Jakarta District Court sentenced Akbar to three years in prison for misappropriating Bulog funds worth Rp 40 billion, which were intended to feed the poor in 1999.

But he remains free and is allowed to retain his post as the House speaker as he is appealing his conviction to the Jakarta High Court.

Rahardi is also appealing his conviction and two-year jail term, his lawyer Trimulja Surjadi told AFP on Thursday.

He said he filed the appeal on Tuesday afternoon with the South Jakarta District Court, which convicted his client.

"Rahardi Ramelan isn't guilty and I, as the lawyer, feel he isn't guilty as ruled by the court," Surjadi said when asked what the grounds were for the appeal.

It is unclear when the appeal will be heard by Jakarta's High Court. Ramelan remains free pending his appeal.

Widespread suspicion has surfaced that the cash may have helped finance Golkar's election campaign in 1999.

One witness told the court during Rahardi's trial in June that the then-minister disbursed Rp 400 million to supporters of former president B.J. Habibie to buy favorable media coverage for him.