>US mine operator gave millions to Indonesian military, police: NYTimes >14 minutes ago >JAKARTA (AFP) - A US mining company extracting gold from the largest >reserve in the world in Indonesia's remote Papua province has paid >millions of dollars to military and police here, a press report says. >A New York Times report on Freeport-McMoRan's Grasberg mine operations >said company records showed that from 1998 to 2004, the firm gave nearly >20 million dollars to high-ranking Indonesian military and police, and to >military units. >"Individual commanders received tens of thousands of dollars, in one case >up to 150,000 dollars, according to the documents," the newspaper said. >The biggest beneficiary was the commander of the troops in the mine's >area, Lieutenant Colonel Togap Gultom, according to the report, which also >named other senior Indonesian police. >Payments to individuals are illegal under Indonesian law, a former >Indonesian attorney-general told the newspaper. >The revelations come amid a corruption crackdown ordered by Indonesian >President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who took power in October 2004 >pledging to clean up a country consistently rated as one of the world's >most graft-prone. >The New Orleans-based company defended itself to the newspaper, saying >that it had provided a secure working environment for its more than 18,000 >employees and contract workers in accordance with US and Indonesian laws. >"There is no alternative to our reliance on the Indonesian military and >police in this regard," the company wrote. >"The need for this security, the support provided for such security, and >the procedures governing such support, as well as decisions regarding our >relationships with the Indonesian government and its security >institutions, are ordinary business activities." >Freeport-McMoRan has been one of the top sources of revenue for >Indonesia's government, providing it with 33 billion dollars in benefits >from 1992 to 2004, almost two percent of the country's gross domestic >product, the Times reported. >This year it expects to pay the government one billion dollars. >After riots that the military appeared to be involved with disrupted >production in 1996, the company also spent 35 million dollars on military >infrastructure, the report claimed. >The company has proved invulnerable to challenges from local people, >environmental groups and the ministry of environment, the report said, >citing a ministry scientist who complained that getting it to comply with >requests to reduce environmental damage was like "painting on clouds". >Six billion tons of rock and waste are expected to be generated from the >mine, twice as much earth as was excavated for the Panama Canal. >Much has already been dumped in the mountains around the mine or down a >system of rivers that run into low-lying wetlands close to a national park >granted special status by the >Top of Form > >Bottom of Form >United Nations, the Times said. >One study has shown that the rivers and surrounding wetlands were now >"unsuitable for aquatic life". >The newspaper also alleged that the company had intercepted e-mail >messages to spy on its environmental opponents. > > >
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