East Kalimantan council accused of graft by NGO
East Kalimantan council accused of graft by NGO
Rusman, Samarinda
The revelation of corruption in legislative councils across the
country continues unabated following the conviction of almost all
West Sumatra councillors in a collective graft scam.
A non-governmental organization (NGO) in East Kalimantan urged
on Monday the provincial prosecutor's office to summon
immediately all 45 members of the provincial council for alleged
misuse of Rp 5.4 billion (US$600,000) from the budget.
The NGO State Wealth Concern (PKN) said the money was
allocated for operational expenditure of the council but was
distributed to each of the members for their personal benefit
before they ended their five-year terms in September.
"It's obviously in violation of existing rules. Prosecutors
should take an active role in investigating the case without
waiting for reports from residents," PKN executive director
Achmad Basori said in the East Kalimantan capital, Samarinda.
He said distribution of the funds was deliberately engineered
to extract money from the budget for their personal gain after
the councillors did not receive pensions at the end of their
term.
"We suspected for a long time that they (the councillors)
would spend public money in this way," he added.
According to Basori, the council issued two decisions last
month to allocate as much as Rp 4.5 billion of the Rp 42.3
billion in council operational funds to the 45 councillors as a
cash payment.
Each received Rp 100 million in addition to Rp 20 million
earmarked from the council's health allowance of Rp 900 million,
he added.
"Consequently, the members received in total Rp 120 million
each from the budget," Basori stressed.
He said the East Kalimantan Prosecutor's Office should regard
the two decrees dated May 18, 2004, as concrete evidence to
charge the councillors with collective corruption.
He said his organization would soon hand over evidence to the
Attorney General's Office and the Corruption Eradication
Commission (KPK) to help pressure prosecutors in East Kalimantan
to investigate the matter.
"We doubt the credibility of the prosecutor's office here
because it has not been proactive in dealing with graft cases in
the province," Basori argued.
In response to the demand, East Kalimantan Prosecutor's Office
head D.H. Panjaitan said his staff were studying several
corruption allegations involving legislative and executive bodies
in the province.
"We shall establish teams to investigate these cases if prima
facie evidence of corruption is found," he said.
Panjaitan called on the public not to hesitate to provide
prosecutors with firm evidence of corruption against local
officials and councillors.
Last month, Padang District Court jailed 43 members of the 55-
strong West Sumatra legislative council in a graft scandal.
The conviction appears to have had a domino effect in other
regions, as similar scams were also revealed in other provincial
and regental councils across the country, with many councillors
named as suspects.