"The law enforcement has been carried out by the police and is being coordinated with the Environment and Forestry Ministry," Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said here on Tuesday.
He said he was continuously evaluating the way investigations in cases of those accused of setting fire to forest were proceeding.
"The law against those burning forest should be enforced firmly as part of the efforts to prevent such forest fires in the future," the minister said.
However, he noted, that the government has cooperated with foreign countries to extinguish land and forest fires in several provinces in Sumatra and Kalimantan.
"Two aircrafts from Russia will arrive this evening. These planes have a capacity of 12 thousand liters. I hope these will enable better handling of forest fires," he said.
Meanwhile, the National Police Chief, General Badrodin Haiti, said the police continues to investigate some reports of forest and plantation fires on Sumatra and Kalimantan islands.
"There are hundreds of reports of forest fires in Indonesia. We continue to investigate those cases," he said.
The police has submitted files of perpetrators involved in the fires to the Attorney Generals Office.
Earlier, the police had received 244 reports on forest and plantation fires. Of the 244 reports, 218 are being investigated, and 26 are in the pre-investigation stage.
Of the total number of cases registered, 113 cases involve individuals and 48 involve companies.
National Police Chief General Badrodin Haiti revealed that till October 12, the police had named 240 suspects, including individuals and 12 companies, in forest and land fire cases in Sumatra and Kalimantan.
They will be charged under the law on Protection and Management of the Environment that provides for a minimum punishment of three years and a maximum sentence of 10 years in jail, with a fine ranging from Rp3 billion to Rp10 billion.
The 12 companies are suspected of having acted as the mastermind behind the fires.
Of the companies named suspects, two are foreign companies. "One of the two foreign companies is from Malaysia, the other one being from China," Haiti told a press conference recently.
He said his office would conduct intensive investigations into the activities of the two foreign companies.
He said the police were also investigating possible involvement of a Singaporean firm in forest and land fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan.
"We are still examining the involvement of the Singaporean company. I could not yet ascertain its involvement," the police chief said.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2015
