Richard Ness : Blog : Pak Nabiel Makarim And Water Re-Sampling

Pak Nabiel Makarim And Water Re-Sampling - 19 Jul 2006
by Eric

I wanted to report to you some important developments in the case against my dad and PT NMR that is still ongoing in Indonesia. On 14 July 2006, Mr. Nabiel Makarim, former Minister of Environment, testified that all facts show that Buyat Bay is clean with no evidence of pollution as alleged in the case. He further stated that individuals who claim that there is pollution can not support their statements by any scientific facts.

Two legal experts also testified that the case against my dad and Newmont have not followed the rule of law. Further the Judges ordered the prosecution to resample the waters of Buyat Bay using two independent and certified laboratories in Indonesia. The goals of this resampling was to verify if Buyat Bay is clean or not. My dad welcomes this development and is very confident that this will be yet another set of samples that would further bolster the conclusions of more then a decade of such sampling done by Newmont and various studies by other national and international agencies. However, it appears that the possibility of yet another evidence that would establish Buyat Bay is clean has created a panic among the prosecution. Therefore, the prosecutors are now trying to resist the orders of the Judges to resample.

So the matter goes back to the question of wether or not my dad will receive fair justice in Indonesia. Only time will tell and I will keep you posted.