Finance ministry official accused of abusing power
Finance ministry official accused of abusing power
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
A number of staff members at the Directorate General for State
Credit and Auction of State Assets have urged Minister of Finance
Boediono to dismiss director general Karsono Suryowibowo for
alleged abuse of power resulting in losses to the state.
The employees have sent a letter of complaint regarding
Karsono's bad policies to the minister, a copy of which was made
available to The Jakarta Post, in what they regard as an effort
to prevent further abuse of power by Karsono.
"We believe that many of his policies, such as organizational
restructuring ... will be detrimental to the performance of the
department," the letter said.
"To prevent things from getting worse, the incumbent Karsono
should be replaced with someone of good vision and morals."
The protesting employees said that the forced merger of two
operational units of the directorate general: the credit division
and auction division would only benefit privately owned auction
companies.
The employees accused Karsono of having received a brand new
Mercedes Benz limousine from private auction firm PT Balindo.
However, the main complaint centered around losses to the
state because of the alleged back-door deals made by Karsono and
related parties for their personal gain.
During his two years of service, Karsono has granted requests
by the Bintan Auction office to lower its administration fee from
1 percent of the transaction value to 0.01 percent.
The letter indicated that Karsono had received 'compensation'
from Bintan Auction for his consent in reducing the
administration fee.
Worse still, granting the request would mean overstepping his
authority.
This is ironic amid the country's efforts to collect higher
revenue from taxes, it added.
Given the strategic role the agency has, the minister has to
respond promptly to address the matter to avoid further losses to
the state.
Boediono, however, when asked about the matter, refused to
comment.
Efforts to contact Karsono were also unsuccessful.
The Directorate General for State Credit and Auction of State
Assets is tasked primarily with collecting state bank loans which
have turned sour, and to address requests to sell assets held by
state enterprises.
That includes the sale of certain assets under the supervision
of the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA).
This makes the agency extremely powerful, especially when
IBRA's term ends in 2004, because the agency will then be the
only state institution equipped with legal authority to handle
the disposal of assets of state enterprises.