City official denies receiving cash from Ancol
JAKARTA (JP): Jakarta Development Agency head Bambang Sungkono denied on Wednesday allegations that he had received some US$10,000 in cash from PT Pembangunan Jaya Ancol before an official trip to South Africa last month.
Speaking to journalists after undergoing a one-hour interrogation at the city inspectorate on Wednesday, Bambang said he had received an air ticket and accommodation worth $7,000 from the company, but nothing in cash.
"I should have been given about Rp 20 million ($2,105) in cash for expenses, but until now I have not received any of it and the city administration has canceled the disbursement of it," Bambang said.
He said the city administration did not provide him with an allowance.
A travel agent told The Jakarta Post that the price of a return ticket in executive class from Jakarta to Johannesburg on Singapore Airlines was $1,400.
Aside from Bambang, City Land Agency chief Ahmaddin Ahmad was grilled by City Inspector Hendarin Ono Saleh at the latter's office.
Reliable sources at the city administration earlier disclosed that each of the three senior city officials, including Ahmaddin's deputy, Nurfakih, on their visit to South Africa received between $5,000 and $10,000 in cash from PT Pembangunan Jaya Ancol, which is 80 percent owned by the city administration.
"Pak Ahmaddin and I had a little conversation with the city inspectorate chief. We told them everything we knew about the trip," Bambang said about the questioning.
He is slated for more interrogating at the Jakarta Prosecutor's Office on Thursday. The rest of the 40 people named in the controversial overseas trip, including 14 councillors, will follow suit.
The case, which was unveiled last week, centers on allegations that PT Pembangunan Jaya Ancol, the developer of the Ancol recreation park in North Jakarta, paid Rp 2.1 billion to fund a trip for a group of councillors and city officials between Oct. 9 and Oct. 15.
The city administration allocated Rp 13 billion from its budget for the current fiscal year to pay the journey and other official trips, known as "comparison studies".
The group was divided into three destinations -- South Africa, Australia and Japan. The case initially involved only those people on the trip to South Africa, which was officially aimed at allowing the visiting councillors and officials to study the waterfront reclamation project in Cape Town.
The management of PT Pembangunan Jaya Ancol and those participating in the trip have denied the allegations. They claim the firm paid the travel costs in advance and that the money was to be repaid from the city budget and money provided by Tanjung Priok seaport operator PT Pelindo II.
Sources at the city administration office also revealed that on Oct. 6, president director of PT Pembangunan Jaya Ancol Rushadi wrote Governor Sutiyoso to tell him that the $270,000 needed for the journey would be split between the company and PT Pelindo II.
Ancol would provide $180,000, while Pelindo II the rest, the sources said.
In his reply the next day, the governor said the fund was too much for the city administration, which was trying to step up efficiency as the economic crisis remained unabated.
As the case made headlines on Nov. 30, Rushadi sent a letter to City Council Speaker Edy Waluyo, telling him that the firm merely paid the travel costs and would be reimbursed by the city.
One of the sources said Rushadi would also be questioned at the Jakarta Prosecutor's Office.(dja)