PT Timah denies fund transfer to Governor?s account

PT Timah has denied a media report that the publicly listed tin mining company had paid its reclamation funds to the personal accounts of South Sumatera governor, Sriwijaya Pos reported on Friday.

Sumardekar, the head of the working safety and environment division, said that as a public company, PT Timah had its own account reserve to guarantee the reclamation of its tin mining sites.

He said that the reserve funds allocated for the reclamation works had reached a total of Rp 17 billion (1US$ = Rp 11,300).

The company denied a media report that it had paid a cash of about Rp 12 billion to the personal account of the South Sumatera governor as a guarantee for its future reclamation works.

As of 1999, the area, which had been excavated by PT Timah, reached a total of 11.75 million hectares or about 1.01 percent of the whole size of Bangka island. A half of the excavated land had been reclaimed.

Meanwhile, Nuridn B, the head of the mining department at the regency of Bangka, said that the requirement to provide a guarantee fund for reclamation works is only imposed on mineral companies of the C-class or to those whose mining activities are related only to the exploration of rocks, stones, sands or limestone.

According to him, the amount of the guarantee funds paid by 80 mining companies of the C-class reached a total of Rp 566.40 million at the end of 1999. The other Rp 108.39 million had not been paid. (*)