Soeharto used to demand protection: Sudjana

Soeharto used to demand protection: Sudjana

JAKARTA (JP): Former minister of mines and energy Ida Bagus
Sudjana revealed on Wednesday that ex-president Soeharto told him
to "protect" a company belonging to the latter's son, Bambang
Trihatmodjo.

Sudjana claimed that during his term of office between 1993
and 1998, the then president had several times reminded him to
give special attention to oil company PT Ustraindo Petro Gas,
which had been awarded a project by the state oil and gas company
Pertamina.

Sudjana said that an assessment conducted by Pertamina's board
of commissioners in 1994 found that PT Ustraindo, in which
Bambang owned 40 percent of the shares, was incapable of carrying
out any further development work on the oil project.

In addition to Bambang being a major shareholder in the
company, its president Praptono H. Upojo was a relative of the
late first lady Madam Tien Soeharto.

Pertamina and PT Ustraindo were then ordered to resolve the
problems with the help of two working groups set up by the board
of commissioners to resolve investment and technical problems
respectively. This resulted in an amended contract being signed
by Sudjana on March 20, 1995.

"I sent the (then) president a letter on March 14 saying that
an agreement between Pertamina and PT Ustraindo had been hammered
out in order to save the project, but I also explained that the
company had failed to fulfill its obligation to supply investors
to finance the project," he told reporters after being questioned
for six hours at the Attorney General's Office.

He said that Pertamina had also agreed to accept less oil
under the amended agreement.

Sudjana, who also served ex officio as the chief commissioner
of Pertamina, has been named a suspect in an abuse of power case
involving the resumption of four technical assistance contracts
for oil field development projects as a result of which, it is
alleged, the state suffered losses of US$6.8 million.

The contracts, which involved oil fields in Bunyu, East
Kalimantan, Prabumulih and Pendopo in South Sumatra, and
Jatibarang on the north coast of West Java, needed no technical
assistance, it is alleged.

Sudjana said that his being named a suspect was merely a
political ploy timed to coincide with the government's campaign
to eradicate corruption.

"I'm not guilty. I did all I could to save the state from
losses," he said.

The controversial project involving Bambang's company started
in 1992 following a recommendation issued by Soeharto on Jan.6,
1991. Sudjana's predecessor Ginandjar Kartasasmita, who is now in
the United States, is also suspected of having caused $18 million
in losses to the state in connection with the project.

Ginandjar, a fellow at Harvard University, has said that he
would return home in July after he finished his work at the
university. However, Attorney General Marzuki Darusman said
separately on Wednesday that Ginandjar must come to his office
within one month. (bby)