City gives 45 workers the ax for corruption and bribery

City gives 45 workers the ax for corruption and bribery

JAKARTA (JP): Forty-five employees of the city administration
have been fired since June for involvement in corruption and
bribery, Deputy Governor of Administrative Affairs Abdul Kahfi
said on Tuesday.

"Twenty-three of those fired were high-ranking civil servants,
while the other 22 were of the lower ranks," said Kahfi, who is
also the chairman of the city administration reform team.

Eighty officials, including the 45 dismissed employees, were
given heavy sanctions after the team found they were involved in
wrongdoings, he said.

The remaining 35 were either demoted or given pay cuts, Kahfi
said.

"Sixty-two other officials received light sanctions in the
form of warnings, while four were verbally reprimanded by their
superiors," he said.

When asked about a recent investigation into the embezzlement
of about Rp 16 billion from a fund intended for the maintenance
of official vehicles at city administration, Kahfi said that 30
officials had been declared suspects.

"All the 30 officials of the city supplies office are being
thoroughly investigated by the inspectorate. Remember, they are
still suspects," Kahfi said. "None of them are guilty until
proven so."

More than Rp 16 billion is missing from the 1998/1999 city
budget due to the practice of marking up the number of vehicles.

Based on the vehicle ownership documents, the number of
official vehicles included in the routine expenditure was 3,873,
far below the figure of 6,797 that was reported in the budget
calculation.

Last Thursday, city secretary Fauzi Bowo revealed that the
number stated in the budget calculation -- based on new findings
-- rose to some 8,500 vehicles.

Kahfi said the figure was not final.

"As Fauzi has said, the new findings still have a lot of
discrepancies, which means that investigations will take longer
than expected," he said. (ylt)