Spokesman denies Sudjana's $21 million fraud

JAKARTA (JP): The Ministry of Mines and Energy's secretary- general, Umar Said, yesterday denied press reports that his boss, Minister I.B. Sudjana, had channeled Rp 50 billion (US$21.36 million) from PT Tambang Batubara Bukit Asam into his personal bank account.

"The reports on the personal account were too much. We may sue the source of that information," Umar told a press conference held to rebut reports on "irregularities" at the ministry.

Umar said the media reports on Sudjana over the last few weeks had become too personal, particularly those on the minister's bank account and Director General of Mines Kuntoro Mangkusubroto.

Minister Sudjana was not at the press conference. A spokesman for the ministry said he had gone to India after attending the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' ministerial meeting in Vienna last week.

Sudjana denied the reports on embezzlement from the state coal mining company in a long-distance telephone interview from Vienna last week with the Gatra newsweekly magazine.

He said he had reported on the company's funds to President Soeharto but did not tell the magazine what the funds were used for.

"It is complete slander," Sudjana retorted to a question from Gatra on why he transferred Rp 50 billion of the company's money to his personal account.

But Ambyo Mangunwidjaja, who was the president of Tambang Batubara until August 1994, confirmed receiving a letter from minister Sudjana in the third quarter of 1994 which ordered him to transfer Rp 50 billion from Tambang Batubara to the minister's bank account.

Sudjana stated in his letter the money would be used for a revolving fund to improve the welfare of the ministry's staff.

"I and the other members of the management first ignored the letter because it was against regulations. But we later (under pressure) decided to make the transfer but only to the sum Rp 40 billion," Ambyo told Gatra.

Ambyo said he and the other directors then released a joint statement expressing their objections to the transfer. They then reported the transfer to Tambang Batubara's board of supervisors, the Government Finance Comptroller and the Supreme Audit Agency.

Ambyo and his fellow directors were sacked in August 1994.

Kuntoro reportedly also questioned the transfer.

In October, Sudjana stripped Kuntoro of his authority to issue final contracts of work for mining, except for oil and natural gas.

The controversial transfer surfaced when House member Tadjoedin Nur Said questioned the finance minister at a House of Representatives' hearing last week.

Tadjoedin asked why the funds, estimated at Rp 288.4 billion, received by Tambang Batubara from coal mining contractors as the government's share of its mines' output, had been banked in a Ministry of Mines and Energy account and not transferred directly to the treasury according to Presidential Instruction No.75/1996.

Minister of Finance Mar'ie Muhammad confirmed the existence of the funds which he said totaled Rp 288.4 billion but he declined to explain their status.

When Umar was questioned by reporters yesterday on why the minister removed Kuntoro's authority, he said: "It is part of our effort to streamline our institution. Please don't see the decision per se as an isolated case." (bnt/vin)