Newmont executives remain in detention despite clearance
Wednesday, October 20 2004 - 01:48 AM WIB
National Police chief of detectives Comr. Gen. Suyitno Landung Sudjono said that police would stick to their own laboratory test result that indicated the bay had been polluted by the company.
"Although our officers joined the team, we cannot negate our own tests, which have clearly shown that the bay has been polluted. We have been following the investigation according to the law. We cannot stop the investigation. So, let the court decide," said Suyitno.
"However, we will examine the report and will attach it to the case file for the judges to consider," he said.
Suyitno said police still needed the five suspects for further questioning.
Earlier this month, police submitted the case file of six suspects to the North Sulawesi Prosecutor's Office, which later returned it to police due to insufficient evidence.
Contrary to police findings, a joint team comprising 14 agencies, including two officers from the National Police, has concluded that Buyat Bay, where Newmont disposed its tailings, was not contaminated by heavy metals as suggested by previous laboratory tests.
The joint team revealed that the mercury level in the bay was less than 0.5 micrograms per liter (?/L) or far below the 1 ?g/L tolerable limit set in Ministerial Decree No. 51/2004 on seawater pollution levels.
The team also discovered that the arsenic content in the bay was only around 2 ?g/L, much lower than the 12 ?g/L tolerable limit set in the decree.
Earlier, the Japan-based Institute of Minamata Disease issued similar conclusions, saying health problems due to mercury exposure were not observed among villagers living around Buyat Bay.
Police said their laboratory tests, which examined eight samples, found that the mercury and arsenic levels in the bay to be up to 4.668 ?g/L and 16.968 ?g/L respectively on average.
Police named five Newmont executives -- American Bill Long, Australian Phil Turner, and three Indonesians David Sompie, Jerry Kojansow, and Putra Jayatri -- as suspects and detained them three weeks ago.
Company president Richard B. Ness was also declared a suspect in the case. He was briefly held but was later released due to health concerns.
Newmont has repeatedly denied all charges, arguing that at least three independent laboratories concluded the bay was not polluted.
Suyitno said police still had 40 days to detain the suspects after the prosecutor's office agreed to extend their detention.
"We may release them within that period if we feel we don't need to question them anymore," he said.(*)