[nasional_list] [ppiindia] Fwd: JP: General Confirms Freeport Payments

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>
>
>Date: Wed, 28 Dec 2005 23:07:53 EST
>Subject: JP: General Confirms Freeport Payments
>To: undisclosed-recipients:;
>
>[Note: Also see the previously sent: 1: NYTimes: Freeport in Indonesia:
>The Hidden Payroll; Wealth; Rivers of Waste; and 2: NYTimes: Freeport
>in Indonesia: Unsolved Killings; "A Massive Die-Off," both sent Dec. 27]
>
>The Jakarta Post
>Thursday, December 29, 2005
>
>General Confirms Freeport Payments
>
>Tiarma Siboro and Tony Hotland, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
>
>Former Trikora Military Commander in Papua Maj. Gen. Mahidin Simbolon has
>confirmed direct payments from U.S. gold miner Freeport-McMoRan to Indonesian
>military and police personnel guarding the firm's mine.
>
>Mahidin said on Wednesday that the money from Freeport was used to support
>the military's logistical and other expenses, including meals, 
>transportation,
>clothing and medication.
>
>On-duty soldiers, said Mahidin, also received daily allowances, the total
>amount of which was set by Freeport.
>
>Mahidin did not say whether such payments also protected the mining firm from
>any unwelcome intrusions by officials or environmentalists in connection with
>open-pit mining.
>
>With the Freeport payments, the military benefits from extra income as the
>government also pays for soldiers' needs and basic expenses.
>
>"The soldiers are deployed for security purposes to guard vital objects in
>the country. I suppose (U.S. oil firm) ExxonMobil is also paying the soldiers
>assigned to guard its site in Aceh.
>
>"It might well be the case that Exxon is paying more than Freeport because
>the risks are more severe in Aceh," Mahidin said, referring to the Free Aceh
>Movement (GAM).
>
>ExxonMobil spokesperson Deva Rachman admitted that the firm paid for
>security, but said that the money was paid to and fully managed by the 
>government's
>Oil and Gas Regulatory Body (BP Migas).
>
>Mahidin added, though, that such payments should not result in the military
>being seen as mercenary.
>
>"We've been deployed to difficult areas. Don't we deserve better supplies?"
>he argued.
>
>Mahidin, now the inspector general of the Army, denied ever having received
>part of the money, saying it was paid directly to the commander of the
>battalion guarding Freeport's mine.
>
>This despite the fact that, during his tenure, he was the one responsible for
>determining the rotation of battalions.
>
>Since Freeport commenced operations in Papua, the Indonesian Military (TNI)
>has stationed a battalion of troops from the Army's Strategic Reserves 
>Command
>(Kostrad) at the mine on a rotating basis.
>
>Each battalion is deployed for one year to protect the firm's
>100-kilometer-long pipeline, which runs from Gezberg to the Portside area.
>
>The mine taps one of the world's largest gold deposits, and contributes quite
>significantly to Indonesia's state revenue.
>
>Mahidin is one of the senior TNI and police officers named in a new
>investigative report published in The New York Times on Wednesday as 
>having received
>many thousands of dollars into their pockets.
>
>In the report, which was based on authentic documents, Freeport paid nearly
>US$20 million between 1998 and 2004 to military and police generals, 
>colonels,
>majors, captains, and also military units, to provide security at its mine.
>
>Mahidin is listed as having received a whooping US$130,000 in 2002 in
>connection with what are described in the Freeport records as "military 
>project plan
>2002" and "humanitarian civic action project".
>
>Since 2003, the report says Freeport has been paying the money to units
>instead of individuals, including the Mobile Brigade on more than $200,000 
>and the
>police with $1 million in 2003 for "monthly supplement payment",
>"administrative costs" and "administrative support" requirements.
>


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