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.