Four officials named as graft suspects

Four officials named as graft suspects

JAKARTA (JP): Four high-ranking officials in the city
administration were named suspects in corruption cases which cost
the city some Rp 23.46 billion.

Deputy governor for administrative affairs Abdul Kahfi said on
Tuesday that dossiers of the cases had been forwarded to the
Jakarta Prosecutor's Office.

"The cases are being studied by the office," Kahfi, the head
of the city reform team, said, refusing to give the names or
positions of the officials.

A staff member in the city human resources agency, speaking on
condition of anonymity, said on Wednesday the four officials were
Irnandi, head of the Civil Servants Corp (Korpri) Foundation;
Daryanto, head of the entertainment division of the public order
office; Thamrin, former chief director of city-run property
company PD Sarana Jaya; and Dodo Yosida, head of the statistics
and documentation division at the Jakarta Regional Development
Planning Board (Bappeda).

Kahfi said on Tuesday a suspect from the Korpri Foundation had
caused the administration losses of some Rp 10 billion.

"This man is responsible for marking up prices for the
appropriation of a 13.5-hectare plot of land in Bogor for
administration employees from 1996 to 1998," Kahfi said.

The land prices were marked up to between Rp 5,000 and Rp
20,000 per square meter, a substantial increase over the actual
price of Rp 2,000 per square meter.

The official from the public order office reportedly received
bribes amounting to Rp 300 million from owners of nightspots
facing sanctions from the public order office.

"This was to get those owners off the hook," Kahfi said.

The executive at Sarana Jaya caused losses to the
administration of some Rp 12.6 billion.

Kahfi said the executive claimed to have bought a plot of land
for a housing complex for employees of city-owned Bank DKI.

"As of now, however, the land has not been given to the
administration," he said.

An executive from Bappeda promised a developer city projects
in return for Rp 556.8 million. Kahfi declined to give further
details.

Kahfi said the officials from the public order office and
Bappeda had been removed from their positions, but they still had
to go through "legal proceedings in court".

He also said his team had found evidence of other cases of
corruption, believed to involve 26 city employees.

Kahfi earlier said the reform team, which had come under fire
for failing to bring any corruption cases to court, had not yet
investigated 228 of the 374 cases of alleged corruption,
collusion and nepotism uncovered by its members since the team
was formed in June last year. (ylt)