Alleged corruption at HI revealed
Alleged corruption at HI revealed
Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Some two hundred former employees of Hotel Indonesia filed a
report against the hotel's former board of directors on Tuesday,
alleging that they had corrupted workers' pension and insurance
funds.
Hotel Indonesia Workers Association (SPHI) chairman Windu
Wahyudi said at the Attorney General's Office that they had solid
evidence to prove that the board of directors had misused a total
of Rp 3.8 billion (US$422,000) in pension funds the state had
allocated for the workers.
"We have evidence and witnesses to prove that they embezzled
our pension, insurance, and allowance funds. We are ready to
testify against them in court," Windu said after submitting their
complaint to the Attorney General's Office.
The former board of directors of Hotel Indonesia before it was
sold to a company under the giant cigarette maker Djarum Group
were A.M. Suseto, Imam Subiantono and Maman Suparman. They were
not available for comment on Tuesday.
Windu alleged that on April 27, the management asked the
hotel's pension funds foundation to transfer around Rp 3.2
billion to an account at one of Bank Mandiri's branch offices in
Central Jakarta, which the foundation did on April 29.
"The management never distributed the money to us; we can
testify that none of us have received any money. Instead, they
cut our severance money to pay our pensions," Windu said.
The association's lawyer Hermawanto said that they accused the
management of corruption because the funds belonged to the state
as Hotel Indonesia was a state-owned company.
"We are reporting them for corruption, because they took state
money," he said.
Windu also alleged that the management had subsequently taken
Rp 640 million of their pension funds using the same tactic.
"We haven't counted the money misused in the insurance funds
yet because it involves all of the 1,215 workers. We must
calculate it first but I am sure it will be billions of rupiah,"
Windu said.
The government sold Hotel Indonesia to PT Cipta Karya Bumi
Indah, a subsidiary of the Djarum Group, in May last year and all
employees were laid off.
After a long dispute, most employees agreed on a settlement
package. Only 46 employees have not accepted the package to date.
Attorney General's Office spokesman RJ Soehandojo said his
office would quickly process the report as it concerned people
from the low-income bracket.
"After this, I will report the case directly to the attorney
general. From the report, I can made a tentative conclusion that
there are indications of corruption here," he said.