An official from Metro Tanah Abang management group Rointa Eka Jaya, an official from building supervision consultant Trimatra Jaya Persada, ES from building structure consultant Susanto Cipta Jaya, an official from building contractor PT Jagat Baja Prima, an official from architectural consultant PT. Megatika International, and the head of the Tanah Abang Building Supervision division.

Metro Tanah Abang is part of the Tanah Abang trading complex, the largest garment center in Southeast Asia.

“We concluded from our investigation that the contractor worked on the structure without a building permit. We also discovered there were mistakes in the planning and construction,” police spokesman Sr. Comr. Boy Rafli Amar said.

“The collapsed section was also allegedly constructed with substandard materials,” he added.

Boy said police were looking into whether the suspects were negligent or had intentionally used low quality materials.

Boy said the suspects had not been arrested, pending a thorough investigation.

He added that the district’s building supervision division also shared the blame since it failed to monitor the construction work.

“Although the construction was carried out without a permit, the district building supervision agency was obliged to check every building in its area,” he said.   

He said police had not found evidence that division officers received bribes.

Each suspect, charged under articles covering negligent acts which lead to death or injuries, faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

The suspects are also charged with violating the 2002 Building Law.

The Dec. 23 collapse claimed four lives and injured 14 people.

The police questioned 18 witnesses during their investigation, including five construction workers, two project coordinators, a building management official, two Building Supervision Agency officials, the wife of one of the victims and a National Police forensics expert.

Boy said the head of the Jakarta Building Supervision Agency, Hari Sasongko, was not asked to testify in the case since he might not know anything about the cause of the collapse.

“We don’t have any reason to question him since the collapsed section of the building was constructed without a permit from the agency,” Boy said.

Previously, the Agency had said that the owners of the building, the planner and the contractor may have violated six regulations leading to the fatal incident.

Hari said the contractor had requested permission to renovate the building and add several structures.

The contractor had also sketched a design for the renovated building, which was later approved by the agency on Dec. 3.

However, the collapsed section, which was to have housed toilets, was not part of the approved design, Hari said.

Hari claimed that the building’s owner had admitted the extension had been requested by tenants who said the number of existing toilets was insufficient. (mrs)

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