City inspector resigns over Ancol scandal

City inspector resigns over Ancol scandal

JAKARTA (JP): City Inspector Hendarin Ono Saleh has submitted
his resignation after his recommendation to remove two senior
city officials over an overseas travel scandal was rejected.

City administration spokesman Muhayat confirmed on Tuesday
that Hendarin had submitted his resignation letter last week, but
denied it was related to the controversial foreign trips of city
officials and city councillors.

"He (Hendarin) had to submit his resignation since he was
entering his pension period," Muhayat claimed.

Hendarin had recommended that Governor Sutiyoso "evaluate" the
positions of City Development Agency head Bambang Sungkono and
City Land Agency chief Ahmadin Ahmad.

They were the most senior of 11 city officials among 45 people
who took part in a "comparative study" visit to South Africa,
Australia and Japan between Oct. 9 and Oct. 15 last year.

Among the 45 were also 16 city councillors.

Some of the people on the trip continued their tour to Japan
and South Korea despite it not originally being scheduled.

The 45 on the trip were also believed to have received about
Rp 50 million each from the city budget, despite already
receiving a travel allowance from city-owned developer PT
Pembangunan Jaya Ancol who financed and organized the trip.

A reliable source said Hendarin had recommended to a meeting
of the City Honor Duty Council in February that all 11 city
officials be punished.

Hendarin had threatened to resign if his recommendations on
punishing all 11 officials were not carried out, the source said.

However the council only removed nine officials from their
positions, while Bambang and Ahmadin were not penalized.

The duty council is chaired by Deputy Governor for
Administrative Affairs Abdul Kahfi.

Governor Sutiyoso, as chief commissioner of PT Jaya Ancol, has
claimed that he did not authorize the release of funds for the
trip.

The 11 officials were questioned two weeks ago by the Jakarta
Prosecutor's Office for alleged corruption over the case.

The prosecutor's office also questioned on Monday three
councillors from the council's Commission D for development
affairs: Sugeng Suprijatna and Anna Rudhiantina of the Golkar
Party and Marjuan Bakri of the National Mandate Party.

All three took part in the trip.

Commission chairman Sayogo Hendrosubroto, of the Indonesian
Democratic Party of Struggle, was also questioned by the
prosecutor's office last week.

The prosecutor's office plans to question 16 more councillors,
including three who allegedly received a travel allowance despite
not taking part in the trip. (jun)