Decoration Competition fraud to be investigated
Decoration Competition fraud to be investigated
JAKARTA (JP): Governor Surjadi Soedirdja said a corruption
allegation leveled against JAKPRO, the organizing committee of
the 1994 Gateway Decoration Competition, will be clarified to
avoid negative effects on the public.
"I have ordered the deputy governor for people's welfare to
investigate this case but he has not reported the results yet. We
feel it is important to resolve this matter because it could kill
people's creativity," Surjadi told reporters at city hall
yesterday.
He also explained JAKPRO is not part of city administration.
City administration is only acting as patron of an organization
which participates in a competition held annually on Aug. 17, as
part of the highlights in celebrating the nation's independence
day.
The first prize winner of the competition filed a complaint
with the Indonesian Democratic Party faction of city council
yesterday and will file a law suit against the organizing
committee.
"We filed a complaint with city council and will sue JAKPRO
for Rp 1 billion (US$458,715) for a number of reasons,"
Moelyadie, designer of the winning gateway from Cempaka Putih
Barat subdistrict, told reporters yesterday.
According to him, JAKPRO cheated contestants because it only
gave Rp 2 million prize money to the winner at the provincial
stage. It also gave Rp 500,000 only to each of the five winners
at the mayoralty level contest.
Moelyadie said according to an instruction signed by R.S.
Museno, first prize is Rp 15 million, second prize Rp 12.5
million, third Rp 10 million, fourth Rp 7.5 million and fifth is
Rp 5 million.
"When we opened the prize money envelope it was only for Rp
2.5 million. That's blatant fraud," said Moelyadie, who is also a
painter, adding that the cost of the design was Rp 6 million.
Deputy chairman of the PDI faction Sahala. P. Sinaga said his
faction will investigate the case thoroughly.
"This should be cleared up once and for all because it could
discourage people from participating in future competitions,"
Sahala said. (yns)