Govt to repossess ex-KPU assets

Govt to repossess ex-KPU assets

JAKARTA: Minister of Home Affairs Hari Sabarno threatened on
Tuesday to forcibly withdraw 80 official cars and motorcycles as
well as other assets still being used by former members of the
General Elections Commission (KPU).

"If they insist on refusing to return the assets ... we will
ask the legal authorities to help withdraw them," he told
journalists in Jakarta.

Hari said the government had a list of names of former KPU
members holding the assets, which includes 6,000 typewriters and
fax machines.

The minister promised to take serious action against
unscrupulous former members of the KPU in order to recover the
commission's assets accorded to them before the 1999 elections.

It is forbidden under a presidential decree to convert the
ownership of state assets into private assets without official
consent from relevant authorities, he said.

Earlier, the KPU demanded that its vehicles and other assets
be returned to assist its operational activities ahead of and
during the 2004 elections. --Antara