House members to question Newmont's goodwill payment

The House of Representatives (DPR) will question the government's decision to accept goodwill payment worth about US$30 million from PT Newmont Minahasa Raya (NMR) as part of the deal to drop the government's civil suit against the mining company, Koran Tempo reported Saturday.

"We will ask for clarification from the government," said Sonny Keraf, the chairman of the House's commission in charge of environmental affairs. The former minister of environmental affairs said that the government's decision to drop the suit was another type of a bribe to the mining company.

He said that the House might use its interpellation rights in dealing with the goodwill agreement signed by the government and Newmont. Sonny also supported the plan of non-governmental organization such as Walhi to file a class action over the government's acceptance of the goodwill deal.

As part of the deal, the state ministry on environmental affairs had agreed to drop its appeal against South Jakarta district court's verdict on its civil suit against NMR. The South Jakarta court dropped the civil suit recently.

The court said that the dispute between the government and the mining company should be settled through negotiation or be brought to international arbitration as stated in the contract signed with the company.

The government filed a US$133.6 million civil suit against Newmont last year, accusing the company of causing environmental pollution in its gold mining site in Minahasa, North Sulawesi. (*)