Gen. Roesmanhadi faces query over graft

Gen. Roesmanhadi faces query over graft

JAKARTA (JP): National Police chief Gen. Rusdihardjo said on
Monday that his predecessor, Gen. Roesmanhadi, would be
questioned on Tuesday over his alleged involvement in a Rp 300
billion (US$33.70 million) embezzlement of the police's 1999/2000
funds.

The funds were allocated for the renovation of police
headquarters.

"He will be questioned at National Police Headquarters,"
Rusdihardjo told reporters on Monday following a meeting on
corruption at law enforcement institutions with Attorney General
Marzuki Darusman at the latter's office.

"(Former National Police chief's assistant for planning) Insp.
Gen. Adang Daradjatun and (chief of the treasury agency) Brig.
Gen. Darmadji S.W. will also be questioned on the same matter."

Rusdihardjo said several police officers had been questioned
over the matter.

National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Dadang Garnida insisted
that the questioning had nothing to do with the mismanagement of
the National Police's 1999/2000 Crash Fund Program.

"This is not about crash funds. It's about building funds,"
Dadang told The Jakarta Post over the phone.

Inspector general of the Ministry of Defense Lt. Gen. Suharto
had requested intensive questioning of Roesmanhadi, Adang and
Darmadji, allegedly implicated in the mismanagement of the
National Police's 1999/2000 Crash Funds Program.

The request was made in a top priority report following the
ministry's investigation. The report was addressed to Minister of
Defense Juwono Sudarsono.

The authenticity of the report was later confirmed by Brig.
Gen. Dadang after he contacted the ministry's inspectorate
general.

Dated Feb. 28 this year, the report stated the investigation
lasted from Feb. 3 to Feb. 18.

"The management of the crash funds program was not conducted
as it should have been. Wrongdoing was committed, following
pressure from the (former) chief of National Police, which was
strongly supported by the (former) National Police chief's
assistant for planning and chief of the treasury agency".

The report further stated that the National Police failed to
properly manage the funds in a way that was publicly accountable.

The funds, it said, worth Rp 300.77 billion, were obtained
"straight from members of the public who applied for their
driving licenses".

"The mismanagement of the crash funds program has caused the
state to suffer a loss of at least Rp 5.2 billion, due to, among
other things, the purchase of 100 Timor sedans at marked up
prices, as well as unpaid taxes worth Rp 4.1 billion at PT Catur
Gatra Eka Perkasa (CGEP), PT Sarana Krismaslindho and PT Sri
Rejeki Isman."

The statement referred to the National Police's purchase of
Timor sedans, which were bought without invoices from car sellers
PT CGEP and PT Sarana Krismaslindho.

The alleged wrongdoing was first revealed last year by PT
Timor Putra National (TPN), the initial distributor of Timor
sedans.

The report recommends that the Ministry of Defense instruct
the current National Police chief to make efforts to compensate
the state for losses of Rp 5.2 billion, caused due to the mark
ups of the purchase of sedans and unpaid taxes at certain car
companies.

It also instructs the National Police chief to make changes in
the management of the funds and to at least apply administrative
punishments to a number of high-ranking police officers who are
strongly suspected of backing up corruption practices within the
National Police.

Most importantly, it requested that the Ministry of Defense
guide the National Police chief in restoring the names of at
least six high-ranking police officers, who helped divulge the
corruption within the National Police, and were reportedly
punished by Roesmanhadi as a result.

The officers were identified as former logistics director
Brig. Gen. Bambang Susetyo, former deputy chief of the electronic
communication unit Col. De Friets, Col. Y. Ponto and Lt. Col.
Djamaluddin, both former officers in the logistics division, and
Maj. Aris Munandar and Capt. Kumbul, former investigators in the
city police detectives unit. (ylt)