Susan Sim, Jakarta – The crew of a Dutch-owned vessel with links to the Habibie family is expected to go on trial in Batam today for allegedly smuggling sand out of the Indonesian island for a multi-million-dollar reclamation project in Singapore.

Although the case has so far not attracted publicity, the successful prosecution of a case involving a business tied to a son of former president B.J. Habibie – in an industry and locale which the family used to monopolise – could be a symbolic jolt for both graft-busters and an unshackled regional government flexing its muscles.

Sources here told The Straits Times that the MV Amsterdam, a barge owned by the Dutch firm Ballast Nedam Far East Pte Ltd, was arrested with 3,000 cubic metres of sand in Indonesian waters on February 7.

The mostly Dutch crew of 30 allegedly had no passports, only photocopies, and their manifest listed the next port of call as "the high seas". The vessel had reportedly been warned out of Indonesian waters the previous day for not having the requisite permits, but sneaked back in to collect the sand.

Military sources said the Indonesian naval chief himself issued the arrest order. Lawyers familiar with the case said that the crew and owners now face at least three violations of Indonesian maritime, customs and taxation laws.

In its defence, the vessel's owners alleged that its local partner, PT Barelang Sugi Bulam, was supposed to have taken care of all the documentation. PT Barelang, owned by Mr Tareq Habibie and Mr Ballast Nedam, is said to have a contract to supply 50 million cubic metres of sand to a private contractor working on land reclamation for Changi Airport's Terminal 3 project.

The sand contract, estimated to be worth at least $200 million at the crisis-low price of $4 per cubic metre, was apparently agreed on before June last year, when the Habibie family still dominated the industry.

But the Riau governor terminated most of such lucrative monopoly rights after Dr Habibie failed to win the re-election last October. Among the governor's aims: to increase the price of sand to $15, and ensure all contracts go through holding companies controlled by the Riau government so that the province, and not private individuals, would benefit.

If not for such high-level resolve, sources said that such a case would very likely have been settled quietly, as in the past.