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Jakarta Post

Police won'€™t add to Dahlan'€™s woes

Following the Jakarta Prosecutor’s Office move to name former state-owned enterprises minister Dahlan Iskan a graft suspect, the National Police has said it is in no hurry to prosecute a separate graft case that also implicates the media mogul

Fedina S. Sundaryani (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Sun, June 7, 2015 Published on Jun. 7, 2015 Published on 2015-06-07T13:27:30+07:00

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F

ollowing the Jakarta Prosecutor'€™s Office move to name former state-owned enterprises minister Dahlan Iskan a graft suspect, the National Police has said it is in no hurry to prosecute a separate graft case that also implicates the media mogul.

The National Police'€™s detective division chief, Comr. Gen. Budi Waseso, told The Jakarta Post on Saturday that his unit had no plan to accelerate the investigation into the role of Dahlan in an alleged fictitious rice field project in Ketapang, West Kalimantan.

'€œThe two cases are entirely different and unconnected,'€ Budi said.

On Friday, prosecutors named Dahlan a suspect following a two-day questioning session regarding his alleged role in rigging the procurement of electricity transformers for state electricity firm PLN, a project worth more than Rp 1.3 trillion (US$97 million) in 2009. Dahlan was president director of PLN when the alleged misdeeds were committed.

The National Police recently said that Dahlan'€™s testimony would be key in their probe into the rice field project, which was worth Rp 317 billion, and which took place during his tenure as state-owned enterprises minister under former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono'€™s administration.

Budi said investigators had yet to summon Dahlan, needing first to first question a number of other witnesses.

'€œWe will certainly question him, but investigators have yet to decide when will be the best time to do so. They need to evaluate the testimonies of other witnesses first, as well as look into the evidence we have gathered,'€ he said.

Soon after the prosecutors'€™ move to name Dahlan a suspect, the Immigration Office slapped a travel ban on the former politician, who won the Democratic Party'€™s presidential convention in 2013.

Attorney General'€™s Office (AGO) spokesman Tony T. Spontana confirmed the AGO had received a letter from the immigration office forbidding Dahlan to travel overseas.

 The police have yet to obtain the results of an audit of the rice field project, preventing them from revealing with how much the state lost from the project.

When the project was launched in December 2012, Dahlan said the 3,000 hectares of paddies would expand to 100,000 by 2014.

However, a recent investigation concluded that no development had taken place despite a budget allocation.

State-owned agriculture firm PT Sang Hyang Seri was responsible for the rice field development with the assistance of many other state-owned enterprises, including construction firms PT Hutama Karya and PT Brantas Abipraya and engineering and construction consulting firms PT Indra Karya and PT Yodya Karya.

Funds also came from state-owned banks BNI and BRI, state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina, state-owned port operator PT Pelabuhan Indonesia II (Pelindo II) and Jakarta-listed gas distributor Perusahaan Gas Negara (PGN).

According to Budi, those found guilty of embezzling money could face a maximum prison sentence of 20 years and a fine of Rp 200 million for violating the 1999 Corruption Law.

Meanwhile, after Dahlan'€™s questioning ended on Friday evening, the Jawa Pos Group boss said that he accepted his status as a graft suspect in the PLN case.

'€œI accept with full responsibility my being named a suspect by the Jakarta Prosecutor'€™s Office. I'€™ve decided to take responsibility because in my capacity as project leader, I am responsible for problems linked to the project,'€ he said at the Jakarta Prosecutor'€™s Office.

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