Council to decide action on Ancol scam
Council to decide action on Ancol scam
JAKARTA (JP): The city council will inspect reports detailing
the receipt by some of its members of money amounting to some Rp
4 billion (US$425,500) from the developer of the Ancol leisure
complex.
PT Pembangunan Jaya Ancol reportedly financed overseas trips
for six councillors last month.
City council speaker Edy Waluyo said on Monday that he would
coordinate with all faction leaders to ascertain the facts and
decide on appropriate measures.
If the investigation failed to produce evidence, Edy said, the
council would only recommend a solution and leave the final
decision to each council faction.
Echoing Edy's statements, one of the council deputies, Djafar
Badjeber of the United Development Party (PPP), said the council
needed to clarify the amount of money spent by the councillors on
their trips.
"There could be other officials from various city agencies and
from PT Pembangunan Jaya Ancol itself, who could be using the
money and blaming it on (the council members)," he said.
Djafar added that his faction was ready to take responsibility
if any of its members were proven to be have been involved in the
disbursement of the funds.
"We must call on the board of directors of PT Pembangunan Jaya
Ancol to clarify the matter," said Djafar, adding that city-owned
companies frequently shared the costs of similar trips in the
past that were aimed at conducting comparative studies.
Separately, chairman of the Indonesian Democratic Party of
Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) faction, Audi I.Z. Tambunan, said that
his faction had established a task force to investigate the
involvement of its members in the case.
"This shows our concern about public trust in the city
council," said Audi, adding that the results of the investigation
would be forwarded to the PDI Perjuangan's Jakarta chapter
executive board.
Currently, there are 85 city councillors, with the PDI
Perjuangan with 30 representatives constituting the biggest
grouping on the council.
It was earlier reported that PT Pembangunan Jaya Ancol had
admitted financing the overseas trips of 45 people, including six
councillors, to Australia and South Africa to study waterfront
city projects, as the company may construct a similar project in
the Ancol area of North Jakarta at some time in the future.
However, the company's president director Rushadi said earlier
that the expenditure was less than Rp 4 billion. 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. Governor Sutiyoso is the chief commissioner of PT
Pembangunan Jaya, while business tycoon Ciputra owns the rest of
the company's shares.
Meanwhile, Sutiyoso also questioned the allocation of the
funds by the company as the city administration had already
allocated a total of Rp 13 billion from the 2000 city budget for
councillors' overseas trips this year.
Most councillors have denied the allegations raised thus far.
(07)