Govt to take action against corruptors in Aceh

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government pledged on Thursday to take stern measures against officials who misused humanitarian aid allocated by the state for Aceh but said the amount of losses was relatively small.

"We will bring the alleged corruptors to court, although we have not found that the amount of the misused fund was significant," Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told reporters after a meeting at his office.

The meeting was also attended by National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar and martial law administrator in Aceh Maj. Gen. Endang Suwarya.

Suwarya said the irregularities occurred in several districts in Aceh that should each have received Rp 2.5 million (US$294) in humanitarian aid, but only received Rp 1.5 million. Some of the districts did not receive any part of the aid.

"If the state funds do not reach the needy, we will not make any more disbursements," he said.

Suwarya did not provide details as to who was being held responsible for the misused money.

On an entirely separate issue, Aceh Police Spokesman Sr. Comr. Sayed Hoesainy said police had completed the investigation into Speaker of the Singkil regental legislature, identified only as U.A., for allegedly swindling Rp 20 million from the state humanitarian aid and social rehabilitation fund.

"We have completed the investigation and will soon submit the dossier to the prosecutors' office," Sayed told reporters on Thursday.

He said the suspect would be charged with Article 415 of the Criminal Code on abuse of power, which carries a maximum sentence of seven years.

He said the suspect was involved in the disbursement of state funds to help flood victims last year.

"I wonder how he could have been involved in the disbursement of funds for flood victims," he said as quoted by Antara.

He added that police had not found any other government officials involved in the case.

Non-governmental organization (NGO) the Solidarity for Anti- Corruption Society (SAMAK) earlier reported 392 corruption cases that remained untouched since last year, causing billions of rupiah in state losses.

SAMAK chairman Kamal Farza said the high number of corruption cases ranked Aceh as the most corrupt province in the country.

Kamal said the alleged corruption occurred in the disbursement of Rp 103 billion in humanitarian aid and the social rehabilitation fund for flood victims administered by the Aceh provincial government.

The NGO also questioned the use of the Rp 43.7 billion donated by state oil company Pertamina and the alleged mark-up in the purchase of a Rp 8.6 billion cargo boat for Weh island.

Corruption was also suspected in a humanitarian project worth Rp 1 billion in Simeulue regency, in the use of Rp 3.5 billion in Pasie Raja district in South Aceh regency, in the use of Rp 2.9 billion donated by the World Bank to the regency, and in the Rp 1 billion airport repairs in Central Aceh.

The NGO said renovations on the official residence of the Aceh provincial legislature speaker, which was recorded at Rp 800 million, and dozens of other projects in the province had been marked up.

SAMAK declared the corruption had become worse since Aceh Governor Abdullah Puteh began directly appointing companies to carry out the projects, instead of offering open tenders.