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.