East Kalimantan council alleges markup in plane, hotel purchases
East Kalimantan council alleges markup in plane, hotel purchases
Rusman, Samarinda, East Kalimantan
The East Kalimantan legislative council will look into cases of
alleged markup in the purchases of five Australian planes and a
hotel in Jakarta by the provincial administration, councillors
said on Friday.
Rikmo Kuswanto, who chairs the council's Commission C for
finance, said the investigation would focus on the alleged price
markup in the purchases of GA8 planes and the Harco Hotel in
Central Jakarta, which he said were never approved by the
council.
"The purchases had never been recommended by the legislative
body. This is what should be clarified to the public," he said.
He said the local administration bought the five planes a
total of Rp 26.5 billion (US$3.08 million), while information
from the council's working committee showed their market price to
be only Rp 3.2 billion each.
"So the total budget needed for the planes should have been
only around Rp 16 billion or a maximum of Rp 18 billion if other
delivery expenses were needed," Rikmo told The Jakarta Post.
Likewise, the East Kalimantan government had allotted Rp 12.5
billion to buy the Harco Hotel on Jl. Raden Saleh in Jakarta. The
amount increased to Rp 24 billion after it proposed more funds to
renovate the hotel.
Although the allocated budget had been endorsed by the
council, Rikmo said, it was still "normal" to investigate an
alleged markup in the hotel's purchase by actually inspecting the
work that was done.
"We want to see if the budget funds spent by the
administration is commensurate with the renovation done. If the
result is not satisfactory, we will question it further.
"So far we have not received explanations from the executive
body about the purchases," the councillor added.
He said the East Kalimantan governor should clarify these
things in his accountability report to be presented to the
council.
Meanwhile, East Kalimantan administration secretary Syaiful
Teteng strongly denied the allegations, claiming that the
purchases of the five planes and the hotel were already
transparent.
He added that purchases passed existing procedures and scolded
the councillors, claiming they had spoken out on issues that were
none of their business.
"The purchases are the authority of the executive body and the
legislative council should not intervene in this matter. They
(the council) should only talk about things they are familiar
with and things that are part of their mandate," he said.
Syaiful said the markup case was the authority of
administration's supervisory or legal bodies to investigate, not
the legislative council.