US$52m seized from Apkindo for graft case

JAKARTA (JP): The Attorney General's Office confiscated on Monday fixed deposits and accounts, worth more than US$52 million and Rp 3 billion, belonging to the Association of Indonesian Wood Panel Producers (Apkindo) as evidence in a graft case involving timber tycoon Mohammad "Bob" Hasan.

Prosecutor Soewandi said that although the assets were owned by the association, the investigation found out that the money was part of a $84 million fund for export promotion which had been allegedly mishandled by Hasan, who was the organization's chief patron when the episode took place in 1997.

"But the seizure will not stop here as there will be others in the following weeks," Soewandi told journalists after leaving the association's office on the ninth floor of the Manggala Wanabakti building in South Jakarta, where the seizure took place.

Soewandi, who led a small team of prosecutors for the seizure, said the assets were kept in four banks, namely state banks Bank BNI and Bank Mandiri and private banks Bank Arta Graha and Bank Bukopin.

He said the prosecutors had initially planned to seize another $84 million deposited at Bank Umum Nasional.

"We are still waiting for clarification from Bank Umum Nasional, which is now under the government restructuring program, whether the deposit was guaranteed by the government.

"If it was, we will seize it immediately before it falls into the wrong hands," he said to the media, accompanied by his colleagues Hermanto and Esther Sibuea.

The graft allegation was filed by Apkindo with the Attorney General's Office in early June. The office then named Hasan a suspect in the Apkindo case on June 16, along with Apkindo chairman Asmaning Tjipto Wignjoprajitno.

The allegedly mishandled funds came from the monthly dues of Apkindo's 111 members.

State prosecutors said the money was supposed to be used to finance Apkindo's overseas export promotion in 1997, including for exports to Japan, where wood panel products were sold to local timber company Nipindo. Hasan owns 95 percent of Nipindo.

Apkindo members allege that Hasan, a former golfing buddy of former president Soeharto, swindled $2.5 million of the promotion fund.

The rest of the money was deposited in the now defunct Bank Umum Nasional, which was also partly owned by Hasan.

Hasan, who briefly served as minister of industry and trade, is currently facing trial over irregularities found in a project to undertake aerial mapping and airborne radar imaging of the country's forestry resources.

Soewandi said the prosecutors would also seize a 20-hectare plot of land in Bogor, West Java, believed to have been bought by the two suspects using Apkindo's money. The prosecutors are awaiting approval from the local district court.

"We'll also seize some buildings and bank accounts," he said, but did not elaborate.

The prosecutors earlier seized 20 sedans and minivans, which had reportedly been bought using Apkindo's money but were used by the two suspects as their personal automobiles. (bby)