Police to re-open Busang gold case
Thursday, February 3 2000 - 04:00 AM WIB
The national police would resume investigation into the deception case related to the Busang gold field in East Kalimantan after freezing the investigation for several years on the order of former President Soeharto, Media Indonesia and Pos Kota reported.
"We shall re-study the case. If we find new evidences, the investigation will be resumed," head of the national detectives Maj. Gen. Dai Bachtiar said.
He said the police had examined 30 people, including tycoon Mohammad Bob Hassan, during the former investigation into the case before suspending the investigation.
Canadian exploration firm Bre-X Minerals claimed several years ago that it had found a giant gold deposit in the Busang area, but an independent analyst later found that the company had tampered with the ore samples taken from the area to support its claim about the giant gold find.
The case involved several top businessmen of the country, including Soeharto's family and cronies, who ought to gain shares in the gold field following the announcement of the giant gold find. (*)