President responsible for Banpres: Moerdiono<\/p>\n
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Any irregularities in the use of non-budgetary Presidential Aid
\nFund (Banpres) were the sole responsibility of the president,
\nformer minister\/state secretary Moerdiono said Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Moerdiono, who served as minister\/state secretary for 10 years
\nduring the Soeharto regime, said the funds were collected and
\nused only with the president's approval.<\/p>\n
\"The president is the one who decides on fund collection or
\nuse, while the minister\/state secretary concentrates on the
\nadministrative work only,\" he told a small team of the House of
\nRepresentatives (DPR) Commission I in charge of security and
\nforeign affairs.<\/p>\n
Moerdiono and another minister\/state secretary, Muladi, were
\nsummoned by the House on Tuesday to shed light on the collection
\nand disbursement mechanism of Banpres.<\/p>\n
Ali Rachman and Abdul Mudjid Manan, two ministers\/state
\nsecretaries during former president Abdurrahman Wahid's short
\nstint, are to be summoned later this week.<\/p>\n
Moerdiono maintained Tuesday that the collection and
\ndisbursement of Banpres was the prerogative of the president.<\/p>\n
\"The minister\/state secretary does not have any authority over
\nthe fund,\" he insisted.<\/p>\n
The Banpres issue came to the fore after President Megawati
\nSoekarnoputri donated Rp 30 billion to the Indonesian Military
\n(TNI) and police in February for the upgrade of complexes housing
\nlow-ranking personnel, without revealing the source of the funds.<\/p>\n
As the 2002 state budget did not allocate any cash for the
\nrehabilitation work, House legislators started questioning the
\nassistance. Speculation is rife that Megawati's aides had
\nillegally collected the funds to buy the military and police's
\nsupport in the 2004 election.<\/p>\n
Cabinet\/State Secretary Bambang Kesowo belatedly told the
\nHouse Commission I in May that the money was taken from Banpres,
\na fund established by former dictator Soeharto in 1985.<\/p>\n
Bambang's explanation, however, failed to silence Megawati's
\ncritics. In fact, tens of inter-faction legislators filed a
\npetition to House leaders to force Megawati to explain the source
\nof the fund before the lawmakers.<\/p>\n
Analysts suggested that the move was designed to stop
\nMegawati's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI
\nPerjuangan) from demanding the establishment of a special House
\ncommittee to investigate its speaker, Akbar Tandjung, a suspect
\nin a Rp 40 billion financial scandal involving the National
\nBureau of Logistics (Bulog).<\/p>\n
One legislator, who declined to be named, said Tuesday that
\nthe Banpres issue was being exploited by the House to kick
\nBambang out of Megawati's cabinet.<\/p>\n
Moerdiono also said the fund had between Rp 500 billion and Rp
\n550 billion and US$10 million and $11 million when he left office
\nin 1998, but according to Bambang, Megawati inherited only Rp
\n401.6 billion and $10.6 million from her predecessor Abdurrahman
\nWahid.<\/p>\n
After hearing Moerdiono's testimony, team members brushed
\naside any possibility of summoning President Megawati, saying
\nthat the move would go beyond its authority.<\/p>\n
\"We will not go that far, but based on Moerdiono's statement
\npeople could figure out who is to blame for irregularities in the
\nfund,\" said team secretary Heppy Bone Zulkarnaen of Golkar.<\/p>\n
He also refused to say whether Moerdiono's explanation implied
\nthat Megawati was to be held responsible for irregularities in
\nBanpres, saying: \"There are always possibilities that those who
\nrun the administration are not honest in their work,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Another team member, Zulvan Lindan of PDI Perjuangan, said
\nthat Megawati learned about the fund from Bambang.<\/p>\n
\"The purpose is not to summon the president as Bambang may
\nhave been the one who informed the president about the existence
\nof the fund,\" he said.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/president-responsible-for-banpres-moerdiono-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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