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)