Council probed over alleged markup

Fadli, The Jakarta Post, Batam, Riau

The Batam Prosecutor's Office is investigating an alleged markup on 45 Pentium IV desktop computers allocated to the Batam Legislative Council (DPRD II) last year, a senior prosecutor said on Tuesday.

The head of special crimes at the office, Bambang Setyadi, said his team would question immediately officials of the legislative secretariat, telecommunications giant Indonesian Satellite Corporation (PT Indosat Tbk) as procurer of the computers and those Batam councillors allegedly involved in the Rp 2.1 billion (US$250,000) scandal.

"We have just assigned several of our staff members to collect data from the Batam DPRD secretariat and the procurement contractor. Pak Yasin (a council member) has also been contacted for information, as he was the first to reveal his suspicions of the irregularity," Bambang told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

Bambang was referring to Muhammad Yasin from the National Mandate Party (PAN) faction, who questioned the accountability speech given in early April by Batam Mayor Nyat Kadir.

When contacted separately, Yasin said his suspicion was raised over the value of the project recorded in the accountability speech, as the price of the computers were above normal.

He became more suspicious after checking the price of a Pentium IV at various computer shops in Batam and found that the average price of a desktop computer of that type was only Rp 7 million per unit. According to this price, then the project should cost only Rp 315 million for 45 Pentiums.

The mayor's accountability report set the value of the project at Rp 2.1 billion, or seven times the normal price.

Aside from the alleged graft, the project has also violated a Presidential Decree, as any projects worth more than Rp 150 million must conduct an open tender, said Yasin.

Instead, the Batam legislative secretariat had directly appointed PT Indosat as procurer, he said.

Meanwhile, the secretary of the Batam legislative council, Said Aqil Alatas, said he was ready to be examined in connection with the procurement project, declaring that there was no corruption. He said the project was a staggering Rp 2.1 billion because the price also included the costs of training, networking and setting up a Website for the legislative council.

PT Indosat Riau Islands manager Respati Nugroho ruled out any corruption in the project. He said the value of the project had expanded to Rp 2.1 billion because aside from the desktops, it was also used to procure other hardware, such as printers, and software such as a licensed e-mail application and a Cisco network security system.