Tosari goes all out to save PPP skin in QSAR case

Tosari goes all out to save PPP skin in QSAR case

Berni K. Mustafa and Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

In an apparent move to distance the United Development Party
(PPP) from the collapsed PT Qurnia Subur Alam Raya, one of the
party's executives, Tosari Wijaya, maintained on Tuesday that the
Rp 5 billion (US$555,000) he had invested in the company did not
belong to the party but rather to Tosari himself.

Nevertheless, he acknowledged that he had borrowed the money
he invested in the company from the party without the knowledge
of the party's other executives, except for its treasurer.

"If I had asked for the party's approval, it would have meant
the PPP was the one investing the money, and that's wrong,"
Tosari told reporters.

If a party is found to have invested its funds for profit, it
could be declared to have violated Law No. 2/1999 on general
elections and be banned from contesting the 2004 general
election.

Tosari refused to explain the PPP's procedures for taking out
private loans, but said there was no regulation limiting the
amount.

"Once I received the money, it became mine. The same would
have applied to any profits (arising from the investment)," he
said.

Tosari's remarks added to the various controversial statements
that have recently been issued by PPP executives.

Earlier, both the party's treasurer Faisal Baasir and the
party's education and training chief Lukman Hakim Saifuddin had
said the money belonged to the party.

Tosari himself had earlier admitted investing some Rp 5
billion of the party's funds and Rp 1.5 billion from party
cooperatives in PT QSAR.

The company collapsed earlier this year, together with the
dreams of about 6,900 investors who had put Rp 500 billion into
the company.

But after reports that the party's investment in the company
could lead to it being barred from contesting the 2004 elections,
chairman Hamzah Haz moved in and said that the money invested in
the company did not belong to the party.

Then came denial after denial that the party had invested the
money in PT QSAR.

Separately, Chief Justice Bagir Manan said that the General
Elections Committee (KPU), the government or other parties
affected by the PPP's involvement in PT QSAR should file a
complaint with the Supreme Court so that the court, in its
capacity as the supervisor of all political parties, could start
examining the case.

"If the PPP have violated the General Elections Law, we can
impose three kinds of sanctions: dissolution, disqualification
(from the next general election), or the withholding of the
government's subvention.

"But we (the justices) can only impose these sanctions after
an open hearing into the case," Bagir told The Jakarta Post.

Meanwhile, Bambang Widjoyanto of the Center for Electoral
Reform (CETRO) said that PPP supporters could also file a law
suit against the party on the grounds that "they had been
prejudiced by corruption within the party."

"The public has an interest in all political parties. And once
they (the parties) become involved in corruption, we can sue
them," Bambang told the Post.