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.