Witnesses refuse to testify in graft trial

Due to defects in the summons procedures, two witnesses refused on Tuesday to testify in the trial of former chief of the State Logistics Agency (Bulog) Rahardi Ramelan, who is the defendant in a corruption case involving Rp 62.9 billion (US$7.27 million).

La Ode Kamaluddin, a member of the People's Consultative Assembly and an advisor to the Vice President, said in a letter read by Chief Prosecutor Kemas Yahya Rahman, that the court should first seek the permission of the President before asking him to testify.

Maj. Gen. Suwandi also refused to testify as he claimed that the court summons was incorrectly addressed to him personally. He said the summons should have been addressed to his superior officer as he was a serving member of the military.

"The governor of the National Resilience Institute (Lemhanas) has refused to allow me to take the stand as the summon is defective," he said in the letter.

Suwandi, a former commander of the presidential guard, is now a staff member of Lemhanas.

La Ode was summoned after Rahardi's lawyers alleged that he had obtained some Rp 400 million from Rahardi. The money was disbursed to finance a project to buy media coverage in favor of former president B.J. Habibie, who was about to run in the 1999 election.

Lawyers had asked the prosecutors to summon Suwandi as he allegedly received a total of Rp 2 billion from Bulog, which was used for various purposes. -- JP