U.S. criticizes arrests of Newmont executives

U.S. criticizes arrests of Newmont executives

Sari P. Setiogi and Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The United States Embassy has criticized the Indonesian police
for detaining without charge several executives of P.T. Newmont
Minahasa Raya, a mining company with its headquarters in Denver,
in the U.S.

In a press statement released on Friday, the embassy warned
the move could further harm the investment climate in the
country.

"We respect the independence of Indonesia's judicial system,
but feel very strongly that the detention of PT Newmont employees
is inappropriate," the statement says.

The statement came while National Police investigators
questioned Newmont president Richard Ness for a second time in as
many days over allegations the company dumped hazardous waste
into Buyat bay in North Sulawesi.

The police have named six Newmont executives suspects in the
pollution case and jailed five of them, including American site
manager Bill Long and Australian production and maintenance
manager Phil Turner.

"Throughout the investigation, PT Newmont has fully cooperated
and made their staff available to the Indonesian authorities,"
the U.S. embassy said.

Newmont lawyer TM Luthfi Yazid said police agreed to suspend
the detention of Ness as he was suffering from a swollen aorta.
Luthfi said, Ness needed therapy to keep his blood pressure low
or undergo surgery.

Police are considering possible charges related to a violation
of article 46 of Environment Law No. 23/1997 on corporate crime
to implicate Ness.

Luthfi said police should not have detained the Newmont
executives as they had been cooperative so far.

"We will always cooperate with the authorities and follow all
legal procedures. Long, for example, came back from abroad on
Tuesday evening to Indonesia to meet the police summons," said
Luthfi.

Also on Friday, police were unable to question State Minister
for the Environment Nabiel Makarim as the investigators were not
given presidential consent to investigate a member of her
Cabinet.

Indonesian law requires the police or prosecutors to seek the
president's approval to question high-ranking state officials,
including ministers.

National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said the police might
scrap Nabiel from their list of witnesses to be questioned. He
said the investigators would instead quiz the minister's deputies
or other staff to tell the police whether Newmont had regularly
reported its disposal waste system.

Newmont has been accused of polluting Buyat bay, where it has
been dumping tailings since 1996. The police said their forensic
tests found that the level of heavy metals in Buyat bay exceeded
the safety levels set by the State Minister for the Environment
Office.

The company has denied the allegations and backed up their
denials with other independent tests, which proved the bay was
normal, but media reports have shown pictures of villagers living
close to the mine with skin diseases and large lumps they claimed
were caused by pollution from the mine. Newmont blames the
illnesses on local miners who do use heavy metals in their
processing.