General Elections Commission denies corruption charges

General Elections Commission denies corruption charges

M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Amid mounting public pressure, the General Elections Commission
(KPU) acknowledged on Thursday that it had spent more than it had
budgeted for in the procurement of materials for the April 5
legislative election.

But, a spokesman explained that it was just a case of
inefficiency rather than corruption.

"There has been a dramatic rise in the budget for procuring
ballot boxes, polling booths, ballot papers and the distribution
of ballot papers.

But, the entire budget was approved and spent with the consent
of the House of Representatives, particularly the House
Commission II on domestic affairs," said Ramlan Surbakti, the
deputy chairman of the KPU.

Ramlan added that the KPU had presented its accountability
report to the legislators and the lawmakers found nothing
irregular in the report. Besides the House, the Supreme Audit
Agency also stated that the KPU had not misused state funds,
according to Ramlan.

Ramlan admitted, however, that the poll commission had indeed
been somewhat ineffective in sticking to its budget. For example,
the KPU had spent some Rp 25 million (US$2,631) for a consultant
to design the ballot papers for the April 5 legislative election
with thousands of candidates and 24 parties.

However, it spent Rp 100 million for a consultant to design
the ballot papers for the September presidential election with
only two candidates, said Ramlan.

When asked to explain, Ramlan would not give any further
details. "This is a bad policy, but I don't think it is
tantamount to corruption," he said.

Ramlan's press conference came about after complaints were
filed by a coalition of five non-governmental organizations
(NGOs) with the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), alleging
that the KPU had marked up costs and thus embezzled state money
in the procurement of materials for the April 5 legislative
election.

The coalition said that all nine members of KPU and its
secretary-general were involved in an alleged markup scheme that
amounted to Rp 375 billion (US$41.6 million) in losses of the
taxpayers' money.

In a related development on Thursday, anticorruption watchdog
Transparency International (TI) Indonesia stepped up pressure on
the KPU, calling on the House to start an investigation into the
alleged graft.

"The House budgetary committee should not be content with
merely deciding how much money the commission should get for
organizing elections. It should also be proactive in checking out
how the money has been spent, and whether or not irregularities
have taken place," TI Indonesia coordinator Anung Karyadi said.

Ramlan said that the KPU members would be ready if they had to
be cooperate with an investigation by any government body.