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)