City set to audit PT Pembangunan Jaya
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)