By Alex MacDonald
LONDON--Indonesia's influential Bakrie Group Friday said that in
an investigation into illegal email and phone hacking at the
conglomerate security advisers have uncovered "new evidence" that
shows hacked documents had been altered to distort events.
Christopher Fong, a spokesman for Bakrie Group, said the
conglomerate's security advisers had uncovered new evidence that
shows that corporate emails and telephones had been illegally
hacked, including private emails of senior executives within
Bakrie-related companies.
"This evidence provides the authorities hard evidence that
documents have been 'doctored' to give a misleading and inaccurate
view to certain events," he added.
Indonesian police confirmed Wednesday for the first time that
the Bakrie Group filed an official complaint alleging hacking at
its companies preceding the proposed divorce between London-listed
Bumi PLC (BUMI.LN) and the Bakrie Group, which have joint interests
in Indonesian mining assets.
An Indonesian police spokesman however said Thursday that while
the police had received the complaint they haven't yet started
their investigation.
The conglomerate's allegations triggered a round of finger
pointing and accusations of bad faith in the long-running Bumi PLC
drama, which culminated with the resignation of key Bumi PLC
shareholder Nat Rothschild on Monday.
Mr. Fong said the investigation is moving in a positive
direction and said the conglomerate expects future announcements to
be made by the appropriate authorities given the sensitivity of the
situation.
Bumi PLC owns 29% in Indonesia's largest coal miner, the
Bakrie-controlled Bumi Resources (BUMI.JK). After a series
boardroom spats regarding corporate governance at Bumi Resources,
the Bakrie Group has offer to sever ties with London-listed Bumi,
with Bakrie offering to buy back the Indonesian mining assets held
by Bumi PLC for $1.2 billion and in return cancelling its 23.8%
stake in Bumi PLC.
Eric Bellman, Ben Otto and I Made Sentana contributed to this
story.
-Write to Alex MacDonald at alex.macdonald@dowjones.com
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