TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Jimmy Widjaja asked Tempo more than 20 times to reconsider writing about his connection with Mustika Dutamas, the company which imported weapons for National Police Headquarters. "Please check it carefully," said the CEO of Capitol last week.
The 60-year-old businessman denied having any stock in Mustika. "My younger brother once had some of its stock," said this son of Eka Tjipta Widjaja, owner of the Sinar Mas Group.
Just like the parent company founded by his father, Jimmy says he only operates in the fields of plantations and information technology. He denied being involved in procuring any weapons, not to mention doing it for the National Police HQ, despite admitting he knows many police officials.
Over the past two weeks, he has often been mentioned by weapons importers in connection with the confusion surrounding the procurement of thousands of rounds of ammunition and firearms by the National Police. There are 280 Stand-Alone Grenade Launchers (SAGL) of 40 x 46 millimeter (mm) caliber, along with 5,932 rounds of 40 mm ammunition from Arsenal, Bulgaria, which are being held at Soekarno-Hatta Airport.
The company which imported those weapons was Mustika Dutamas, with the National Police Mobil Brigade (Brimob) as the ordering party. The arms dealers who Tempo talked to when investigating this import transaction all said that Jimmy was the person behind that company’s involvement. The people listed in the company’s act of establishment are all his confidants.
Vincent Tandjong is one of the stockholders of Mustika. According to the company’s latest revision to its act of establishment, Vincent holds 1,020 shares worth Rp1.02 billion. He is also a company commissioner. Another owner is Freddy Panjaitan with 9,180 shares worth Rp9.18 billion. He is also the CEO.
Jimmy denied the news that Vincent was his trusted man in Mustika. "I just know him," he said. "He likes to call me ‘Koh Jimmy’." Because they are just acquaintances, Jimmy said that he does not know about Vincent’s business affairs.
Vincent, who was born in Makassar, South Sulawesi, on April 30, 1965, could not be reached for confirmation regarding the information given by Jimmy. He did not respond to a written request for an interview sent to the office of Mustika at Graha Mobilkom in Jalan Raden Saleh, Central Jakarta. There was also no response to confirmation letters sent for Freddy Panjaitan and Gatot Ananto, both company directors.
The written request for an interview with Jimmy was sent to that building, in addition to an interview request sent to the Capitol Building in Slipi, West Jakarta. A security guard at Graha Mobilkom assured that the letter for Jimmy Widjaja was properly addressed. "It is correct," he said on Thursday last week.
However, there was no reply to the letter sent to the Capitol Building. Jimmy said that, from his family, only Fenny Widjaja ever had anything to do with Mustika. Fenny, who was asked for confirmation through a WhatsApp message, never denied being a director there. "At Mustika, I held (that) position from June 2005 to February 2006," she said.
Read the full article in this week's edition of Tempo English Magazine
