Accusation on scam denied

Accusation on scam denied

JAKARTA (JP): The city office of the Ministry of Social
Services denied on Friday accusations from a group of disabled
people that the office had embezzled funds allocated to purchase
artificial limbs for the handicapped.

Head of the office's disabled people's affairs, Yugiyani,
asked that the disabled prove the charge.

"I'm ready to face their accusation even under police
questioning," she told The Jakarta Post.

She said the artificial limbs were supplied free of charge,
even though she admitted that the products were of low quality.

The head of the Jakarta chapter of the Indonesian Advocating
Committee for the Disabled, Azwardi Ujang, accused the office on
Monday of having embezzled funds allocated for the procurement of
artificial legs.

Ujang said on Friday, however, that it was Yugiyani herself
who had asked the handicapped last month to purchase 10 low-
quality artificial limbs at between Rp 1.4 million (US$140) and
Rp 1.7 million each.

The artificial legs to be given to the recipients normally
cost only Rp 300,000 each, he said, adding that the products had
were of unrecommended materials like plastic pipes, foam rubber
and sheet iron.

Standard quality limbs are made of fiber plastics, high
quality rubber and steel.

The head of the office's programs, Abdillah, who is also in
charge of the prosthesis project, said the office could not
provide artificial limbs of good quality due to skyrocketing
production costs and the brief manufacturing period of the
products.

"I will ask the management of PT Indoraya, the producer of the
artificial limbs, to improve the quality of the products next
week," he said.

Abdillah said an improvement in quality was expected within
one month.

He said each artificial leg cost about Rp 675,000.

The social services office promised earlier to provide 18
artificial legs to the handicapped under its annual program.
(ind)