City told to return 'bribe'

JAKARTA (JP): The City Council urged the city administration on Wednesday to return a "donation" worth Rp 250 million (US$27,000) from Carrefour hypermall on Jl. Rasuna Said, South Jakarta, for the extension of the mall's operating permit.

"We don't want any suspicion that there is collusion in the extension of the permit," councillor Dani Anwar of the Justice Party said in a hearing with officials of the city economic supervision office and the City Youth and Sports Agency.

He said it was necessary to return the donation in order to assure business people operating in the city that there should be no "bribery" involved in the issuance of a permit.

During a hearing with the council last week, Carrefour executives said that the permit for its mall in Pasar Festival shopping center in Sumantri Brojonegoro student sports complex on Jl. Rasuna Said, had been extended for two years.

The executives said the company had also donated Rp 250 million and promised another Rp 250 million next year to be used for sport activities.

City Youth and Sports Agency head Yudhi Suyoto claimed that the donation had nothing to do with the company's extension permit.

"The company had earlier promised to donate sports equipment. But since it was difficult to get the equipment, it gave the money," he said in the hearing on Wednesday. (jun)