Theo questioned about graft

Theo questioned about graft

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Former chief of the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) Theo F.
Toemion underwent lengthy questioning at the office of the
Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) on Wednesday over alleged
corruption in the implementation of an investment promotion
program in 2003.

KPK investigators also searched Theo's house at Jl. Adhyaksa
VI No. 8, Lebak Bulus, South Jakarta, for material evidence.
State news agency Antara said that KPK investigators arrived at
his spacious residence, located on a 2,000 square meter plot of
land, at around 3 p.m. after questioning Theo for several hours.

"Besides confiscating the land certificate, Theo also showed
KPK investigators his bank account records," lawyer Sugeng Teguh
Santoso told reporters after the 45-minute search, during which
both Theo and his lawyer were present.

Sugeng said that 49-year-old Theo bought the house before he
took the top BKPM post.

Theo later returned to the KPK headquarters at about 5 p.m. to
enable investigators to resume questioning him. Sugeng denied
rumors that the KPK had detained Theo, a former lawmaker from the
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).

Theo, a currency-analyst-turned-politician, has been accused
of being involved in corruption when he led the Indonesian
Investment Year program in 2003, which he claimed was aimed at
luring badly needed foreign investment following the Bali bombing
in 2002.

This is the latest high-profile graft case to be handled by
the KPK after the current administration intensified efforts to
curb rampant corruption in the country.

Theo assumed the top post at the BKPM in 2001 when PDI-P
leader Megawati Soekarnoputri was the country's vice president,
but his five-year mandate was abruptly ended in May 2005
following a much-criticized incident in which he was accused of
assaulting a 14-year-old student referee and scuffling with
foreign residents at the Jakarta International School (JIS)
during a basketball competition in which Theo's seven-year-old
son was playing on April 17. Theo is still a suspect in the case.

Theo explained that the budget for the 2003 investment
promotion program was disbursed by the government in April 2003,
while the promotion team had to start the campaign in January,
which included several overseas trips to Singapore, London and
the U.S., as well as other destinations.

"The investment program was carried out after the 2002 Bali
bombing. It was decided in a Cabinet meeting in November 2002
that 2003 would be an investment year," he said.

He denied the corruption charges. "I entered the BKPM not as
bureaucrat but as a professional who sometimes had to make quick
decisions. There were so many presidential decrees that had to be
considered, but the important thing was that the mission could be
accomplished."

Meanwhile, the KPK has requested the immigration office impose
a travel ban on Theo, who had a stint at Bank Indonesia's
overseas offices where he learned about currency trading and how
the financial market works, which later led to him to resign from
the central bank and jump into currency trading.