Two suspects named in reforestation fund fraud

Two suspects named in reforestation fund fraud

JAKARTA (JP): On Friday The Attorney General's Office named
two suspects who allegedly misused Rp 23.3 billion of
reforestation funds and abused government properties.

Attorney General Marzuki Darusman said that former secretary
general at the ministry of forestry and plantations Sudjono
Suryo, and the president director of aircraft rental company PT
Gatari Hutama Air Service, Kabul Riswanto, were main suspects in
the graft case.

"More suspects could be named depending on our investigation
into the two men," Marzuki said on Friday after a meeting with
the National Ombudsman Committee members.

He was responding to rumors that Soeharto's youngest son
Hutomo Mandala Putra, who is the Gatari president commissioner,
could be involved in the alleged corruption case.

Marzuki added the suspects would be detained if they tried to
flee or destroy evidence.

The case is one of many corruption cases reported by the
ministry's secretary-general Suripto as part of its efforts to
recover massive amounts of misused reforestation funds and to
eradicate corruption in the office.

PT Gatari had been granted a five-year contract in 1990 to
maintain the ministry's 12 helicopters produced by the state
aircraft manufacturer PT Industri Pesawat Terbang Nusantara
(IPTN).

The contract allowed Gatari to lease the helicopters with the
ministry's consent.

The ministry claimed it was charged Rp 7.2 billion by Gatari
for using its own helicopters during the period of the contract.
Gatari was also accused of marking up the expenses for repairs
and spare parts that cost the ministry Rp 12.4 billion. The
ministry paid the expenses using reforestation funds.

Along with poor repairs, the ministry claimed that the company
had so far been unable to return four out of the 12 state-owned
helicopters.

The ministry had initially set a deadline of February 1999 for
the helicopters to be handed over. (01)