House members to summon Freeport's board of executives

A working committee of the House of Representatives (DPR) decided to summon the executive board of PT Freeport Indonesia to explain the company's problems including the possibility of conducting a comprehensive audit on its financial reports, community development and waste management system, Bisnis Indonesia reported on Monday.

The head of the committee on Freeport, Rafiuddin Hemarung, said in Jakarta last week that the committee would hold a meeting with Freeport's board of executives on Tuesday (tomorrow).

"We don't know yet what to do with Freeport. We should first meet the company's top management and then make a recommendation on how to deal with Freeport's problems," he said.

The committee had earlier called for the need to carry out a comprehensive audit on the finance and the waste management system of the company which had been charged of causing a serious pollution on its mine waste or tailing.

A report unveiled recently indicated the state revenues from the company during the five year period were in shortage of $304 million, if the calculation was based on the company's financial reports.

According to the government's reports, the state revenues from Freeport from the period between 2000 and 2005 reached a total of US$1.2 billion. (*)