Indonesia: Police detain managers suspected of causing fires in Jambi

Jon Afrizal, thejakartapost.com 29 Nov 15;

The Jambi Police say they have named officials from several corporations as suspects in the peatland and forest fires that spread a choking haze across the province and further afield, several of the suspects may soon be detained.

Jambi Police Brig. Gen. Lutfi Lubihanto said the police were still working on the case dossiers of the suspects and once the documents were completed, they would move to detain them.

“It is certain that we will detain the suspects but we are still waiting to complete their case dossers,” he said on Sunday.

Lutfi identified four of the corporate suspects by their initials: MN, the manager of PT RKK; SP, the manager of PT TAL; PL, the operational manager of PT ATGA and IW, the president director of PT DHL.

He said that in their cases the suspects had allegedly allowed the fires to start, or were derelict in carrying out their duty to tackle the fires.

Lutfi said the police were also dealing with individual suspects who also started fires.

All suspects, both individuals and corporations, could be charged under Articles 108 and 56 of Law No.9/2014 on plantations and Law No.32/2009 on the environment, he added. (ebf)