Seeds of Corruption
SOLEH Solahuddin now has little chance of escaping from the Attorney General’s prisoner’s dock. The pile of evidence on the flow of bribes he received from Monsanto will make it difficult for the Minister of Agriculture during the administration of former President B.J. Habibie to evade the courts any longer. But should he alone bear the entire responsibility for the massive bribery scandal involving the transgenic cotton supply company from the United States? Although the amounts only involve around Rp7 billion, an investigation by the KPK, the AGO and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation indicates that Monsanto’s “tributes” were enjoyed by scores of government officials.
February 5, 2008
WHO would have suspected that Soleh Solahuddin’s pleasant game of golf at Bogor Raya Lake one weekend back in November 1998 would end so bitterly. Accompanied by Johannes Adrianus Biljmer, the President Director of PT Monagro Kimia, Soleh, who at the time was Minister of Agriculture, was absorbed trying out the 18-hole golf course.
Tempo heard stories from a number of sources who said it was here that an important deal apparently took place. B
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