[Kabar-indonesia] Police grill timber tycoon Prajogo Pangestu in corporate fraud

[Joyo at aol.com]

also: House council hears bribery allegations

The Jakarta Post 
Saturday, June 24, 2006

Police grill Prajogo in corporate fraud

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Timber tycoon Prajogo Pangestu faced a round of questioning for six hours at 
the National Police Headquarters Friday after investigators named him a 
suspect in an alleged corporate fraud.

The boss of the Barito Group of companies was reported to police by his 
former business partner, Henri Pribadi, earlier this year.

Henri accuses Prajogo of stealing profits from a pharmaceutical company, PT 
Chandra Asri, he claims he gave to Prajogo to administer.

Prajogo maintains Henri sold the company to him in the wake of the 1997 
monetary crisis. The Rp 2.7 trillion debt the company owed at the time led to the 
stock of the company plummeting, which allowed Prajogo to buy the company, his 
lawyer, Hotman Paris Hutapea, said.

"We came here to show to the police that Henri Pribadi has received payments 
for all the stocks he gave to my client," Hotman said while accompanying 
Prajogo to the interrogation.

"What Henri reported to the police is a total fabrication," he said.

Outside the interrogation room, Hotman displayed a copy of a letter signed by 
the Indonesian Banking Restructuring Agency (IBRA), which said Prajogo had 
repaid all of PT Chandra Asri's debts.

"By coming here, Prajogo hopes that this dispute can be settled soon. 
Everybody knows that this is a trading affair," the lawyer said.

The dispute between Henri and Prajogo began when Henri reported Prajogo to 
the police on March 23. He accused Prajogo of cheating him out of his stocks in 
the company.

Prajogo, meanwhile, claimed that Henri sold him the company's stock on Oct. 
20, 1998, at Rp 1,000 a share. The amount or value of the shares has not yet 
been revealed.

According to Hotman, the price was agreed to under the condition that Prajogo 
paid all the company's debts.

The dispute between the two business tycoons has stirred speculation about 
the unlawful involvement of several high-ranking National Police officers in the 
case.

Prajogo is rumored to have been held hostage by a police general in Jakarta's 
Borobudur Hotel last month because of the legal dispute with Henry.

The incident was later denied by Prajogo and National Police chief Gen. 
Sutanto.

The two later met at the National Police headquarters earlier this month.

National Police internal monitoring head Comr. Gen. Didi Widayadi was present 
at the meeting, and reportedly heard complaints from both parties, Sutanto 
said.

When asked whether Didi's presence at the meeting was because the police had 
found evidence of collusion between high-ranking officers and the two tycoons, 
Sutanto said no such evidence had been found. He said Didi's presence was 
only to prevent such incidents from occurring.

Sutanto stressed the police had not taken sides in the dispute and vowed they 
would prosecute anyone who violated the law, regardless of who they were.

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The Jakarta Post 
Saturday, June 24, 2006

House council hears bribery allegations

JAKARTA: The House of Representatives disciplinary council has convened to 
hear reports on alleged bribery involving members of the special committee on 
Aceh governance.

The council Thursday heard testimony from Benny K. Harman, a lawmaker from 
the Democratic Party, who first revealed allegations of bribery in the 
commission.

"I gave information to the council panel about how I received an envelope, 
which I later discovered contained cash," Benny said after the hearing.

Benny said he did not open the envelope and later decided to give it to the 
secretariat of the Honorary Council in early May.

Benny has alleged the Home Ministry attempted to bribe committee members so 
it could quickly hammer out an agreement on the bill's contents.

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Joyo Indonesia News Service
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