The Jakarta Post, 3/13/2003 7:58:28 PM
Freeport paid TNI US$5.6m in 'protection money': report
JAKARTA (JP): The U.S. Freeport company paid the Indonesian military (TNI) about
US$5.6 million last year to protect employees of its giant copper and gold mine in
Papua province, according to a report released Thursday.
The TNI, which is combating a sporadic and low-levelseparatist revolt in Papua, has
been accused of widespread abuses in the province, including the killing of
pro-independence leader Theys Eluay.
Freeport-McMoran Copper et Gold Inc disclosed the figure in a confidential document
sent to the New York City comptroller's office and to the US Securities and Exchange
Commission, said the report by AFX Global Ethics Monitor, a new service fromAFP.
Freeport also said that in 2001 it paid the military $4.7 million for the employment of
about 2,300 "Indonesian government security personnel".
The money covered costs for housing, fuel, travel and vehicle repairs for the military,
Freeport wrote in the document.
It also paid 400,000 dollars in 2002 for "associatedinfrastructure" in Indonesia,
according to the document.
It said Freeport filed the document in response to a shareholder resolution filed by a
group of New York's public pension funds earlier this year. This requests more
information about Freeport's presence in Indonesia because of allegations of human
rights abuses by the military.
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