Council queries cattle procurement<\/p>\n
Rusman, Samarinda<\/p>\n
The East Kalimantan legislative council will question the
\nprovincial government over an alleged markup in a Rp 12.5 billion
\n(US$ 1.3 million) purchase of 1,000 heads of cattle from
\nAustralia.<\/p>\n
The provincial administration recently purchased 1,000 heads
\nof cattle for Rp 12.5 billion through contractor PT Indo
\nPancadasa Agrotama, which bought the cows from an Australian
\ncompany based in Darwin.<\/p>\n
Rikmo Kuswanto, chairman of the council's Commission C for
\nfinancial affairs, criticized the purchase because it was made
\nwithout the approval of the legislature's budget committee. In
\naddition, he alleged that the deal was plagued by markups.<\/p>\n
\"Only between Rp 8 billion and Rp 9 billion would have been
\nspent if the cattle had been bought on the domestic markets. So,
\nthe allotment of Rp 12.5 billion has sparked suspicions of
\nmarkups,\" Rikmo said recently.<\/p>\n
The prices of cattle is between Rp 6 million and Rp 7 million
\na head on the local market, he said.<\/p>\n
The procurement of the Brahma Cross cattle by the East
\nKalimantan government was intended to help farmers in 13
\nregencies and mayoralties. Initial plans called for some 2,000
\nheads of cattle to be purchased.<\/p>\n
Rikmo said the budget committee did not approve the purchase
\nbecause the cost of purchasing 2,000 heads of cattle was
\nconsidered too high for the provincial government.<\/p>\n
The committee then agreed to leave the procurement budgets for
\nthe cattle to the individual regency and mayoralty
\nadministrations, he said.<\/p>\n
\"But suddenly there were reports that 1,000 heads of cattle
\nhad been ordered from Australia, with more than Rp 12.5 billion
\nallocated from the province's 2003 budget,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Rikmo accused senior government officials and some councillors
\nof being involved in a markup scam, as the provincial
\nadministration claimed to have obtained approval to go ahead with
\nthe purchase from the council.<\/p>\n
However, any endorsement of the plan did not include the
\ncouncil's budget committee, he said.<\/p>\n
East Kalimantan administration secretary Syaiful Teteng and
\nbudget committee member Kasyful Anwar As'ad denied the markup
\nallegations.<\/p>\n
\"It is not true. Everything went through the proper channels.
\nThe budget committee approved the amount of funds to be allocated
\nfor the purchase and the government has the right to determine
\nthe type of cattle to purchase,\" said Syaiful.<\/p>\n
Kasyful agreed with Syaiful. \"It is true that initially an
\nagreement could not be reached and the issue was referred to the
\nregencies. But finally the allotted funds was approved by budget
\ncommittee members. If there were councillors who did not know
\nabout this, perhaps they did not attend the session where the
\nmatter was discussed.\"<\/p>\n
The director of PT Indo Pancadasa Agrotama, Ruben Tumade,
\nrefused to comment on the allegations. \"It is not my business. I
\nonly procured the cattle. Nothing else.\"<\/p>\n
He did, however, deny that the purchase of the 1,000 heads of
\ncattle cost Rp 12.5 billion. \"We only received Rp 11.2 billion
\n(to make the purchase).\"<\/p>\n
He said the Rp 11.2 billion, which is the specified price in
\nthe contract between the company and the administration, covered
\nthe cost of quarantine and transportation of the cattle to the
\nregencies and mayoralties.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/council-queries-cattle-procurement-1447899208",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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