'Kickbacks received by ministry officials'<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The Deputy treasurer of the General Elections Commission (KPU) M.
\nDentjik admitted on Monday that the commission had paid kickbacks
\nto two Ministry of Finance officials in a bid to facilitate the
\ndisbursement of Rp 2.7 trillion (US$270 million) in state funds
\nproposed by the KPU to cover the costs of 2004 election supplies
\nand operational costs.<\/p>\n
KPU gave US$79,000 and Rp 110 million to the ministry's
\ndirector of budget supervision, Soedji Darmono, as well as Ishak
\nHarahap, the ministry's budget supervision division head from
\nJanuary to December 2004, Dentjik said in his testimony during
\nthe trial of KPU treasurer Hamdani Amin at the Anticorruption
\nCourt.<\/p>\n
The two finance ministry officials are currently being
\nprosecuted on charges of receiving bribes.<\/p>\n
\"I was ordered by Pak Hamdani Amin to pay the kickbacks to our
\ncolleagues at the ministry,\" Dentjik told the court.<\/p>\n
Dentjik added that Soedji received around $40,000 and Rp 50
\nmillion, while Ishak got $39,000 and Rp 60 million.<\/p>\n
The money was given to the two officials shortly after the KPU
\nsubmitted its budget proposal for supplies and operational costs
\nfor the 2004 legislative election to the finance ministry.<\/p>\n
Dentjik, who is being tried separately in the graft case,
\ntestified that neither Soedji nor Ishak gave receipts for the
\nmoney, saying only that \"we trust each other\".<\/p>\n
The witness, however, did not reply when presiding judge
\nMansyurdin Chaniago asked him whether government offices must
\nrecord such cash flows.<\/p>\n
The alleged bribery is only one in a series of graft cases
\nuncovered by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK),
\nfollowing the arrest of KPU commissioner Mulyana W. Kusuma, who
\nwas caught red-handed paying bribes to a state auditor in April.<\/p>\n
Mulyana has been convicted to 31 months imprisonment for the
\ncrime. He is appealing the verdict.<\/p>\n
A number of KPU officials, including KPU chairman Nazaruddin
\nSyamsuddin, have been prosecuted for the graft cases. They are
\ncharged with accepting money or illicit funds collected by the
\nKPU from a number of private contractors that won the tenders to
\nproduce election supplies.<\/p>\n
The commission earlier won domestic and international praise
\nfor its success in administering the unprecedented direct
\nlegislative and presidential elections involving over 150 million
\nvoters in the country. No serious violent incidents occurred
\nduring the two elections that took place within a period of five
\nmonths, and marked a peaceful transition of power that previously
\nhad eluded the country.<\/p>",
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