City set to audit PT Pembangunan Jaya

JAKARTA (JP): Governor Sutiyoso ordered the city inspectorate on Thursday to audit PT Pembangunan Jaya Ancol over a Rp 4 billion (US$425,500) fund which had reportedly been used to finance six councilors' overseas trips last month.

The company's President Director Rushadi told journalists on Thursday after a meeting with Sutiyoso that the governor asked the company's board of directors to take responsibility for the disbursement of the fund.

"The governor asked whether all expenditure had been recorded. I have to show everything to the city inspectorate who are planning to come to my office shortly," Rushadi said.

He admitted that the company financed the overseas trips of 45 people including six councilors to Australia and South Africa to study the waterfront city project as the company may construct a similar project in the Ancol area, North Jakarta, in the future.

"Every single expense of the trip was recorded. We did not lie about it.

"However, the expenditure was not Rp 4 billion, but less than that," Rushadi said.

The company's department head for property, Winarto, said the company allocated some US$240,000 for the trip. Each group, consisting of 15 people, received US$80,000.

"We are going to share the expenditure of the trip with PT Pelindo II, which is the Tanjung Priok seaport authority, as they have already agreed to do so," Winarto said.

"However, our company took the initiative to pay all of the expenditure first as the trip was needed for the development of Ancol and Tanjung Priok," he added.

Sutiyoso questioned the allocation of the fund from the company because the city administration had allocated a total of Rp 13 billion from the 2000 city budget for the councilors' overseas trips this year. There are currently 85 city councilors.

PT Pembangunan Jaya Ancol is part of the holding company PT Pembangunan Jaya. More than 80 percent of its shares are owned by the city administration. Sutiyoso is the chief commissioner of PT Pembangunan Jaya, while business tycoon Ciputra owns the rest of the company's shares.

Most councilors have denied the allegations saying that they never received money from the company and their overseas trip had been financed by the fund allocated in the city budget.

It was earlier reported that the councilors had questioned the city administration's decision to subsidize the Sea World recreational area in the 2000 budget. Reports stated that the taxes paid by the recreational site were to be returned as the administration's subsidy.(dja)