House undecided on Megawati's aid to the military

House undecided on Megawati's aid to the military

Kurniawan Hari
The Jakarta Post
Jakarta

The House of Representatives' Commission I on defense, security,
state secretariat and foreign affairs said it was skeptical about
State Secretary Bambang Kesowo's explanation about the source of
controversial funds used to repair military barracks.

During a hearing with Bambang here on Monday, the commission
looked skeptical of his explanation and decided to instead form a
special team to investigate it themselves.

"An inter-faction team will be set up to carry out a further
inquiry into the scandal, including assessing Bambang's
explanation before the commission," Astrid S. Susanti, who
presided over the hearing, said.

During the hearing, Bambang maintained his previous statement
that the money was taken from the Presidential Aid Fund
(Banpres), a discretionary fund available for the use of the
president.

"The Rp 30 billion was taken from nowhere, but from the
Presidential Aid Fund. I swear to God," Bambang said.

The legislators, however, fell short of extracting from Kesowo
where exactly the Presidential Aid Funds had come from.

Bambang said that the funds were collected from various
sources, including the State Logistics Agency (Bulog), clove
trade regulations, cigarette excise tax and money left over from
the construction of the Indonesian embassy in Singapore.

The use of the funds emerged when a legislator disclosed to
the press several months ago that the State Secretariat had
disbursed Rp 30 billion to the Indonesian Military to help
rebuild dilapidated military barracks in several locations around
the country, without the House's permission.

The funds' disbursement was also confirmed by an audit
conducted by the State Audit Agency (BPK).

Bambang said the funds inherited by former president B.J.
Habibie from his predecessor Soeharto was Rp 550.4 billion and
US$12 million. Former president Abdurrahman Wahid inherited Rp
477.1 billion and US$13.6 million from Habibie.

The state secretary added that the government of Megawati
Soekarnoputri had been left Rp 401.6 billion and US$10.6 million
by Wahid.

According to Bambang, the amount of the presidential aid was
known on Jan. 30, 2001 after president Megawati ordered him to
total the funds last August.

It was known that the amount of the funds was about Rp 330
billion and US$10 million, he said.

However, a report by the State Audit Body (BPK) showed that
the remaining funds were around Rp 540 billion, a figure which
was quite different from the figure reported by Kesowo to the
president.

Commenting on the discrepancy between his report and that of
the BPK, Bambang recalled that Rp 100 billion had been handed
over to the vice-presidential secretariat and the rest was
borrowed by third parties.

"If all those funds were combined, the amount would reach
about Rp 528 billion and US$10 million. So there is no
discrepancy," he said.

He disclosed that there were 57 organizations making the use
of the funds. They received Rp 1.5 million to Rp 7 million in
monthly subsidies.

Bambang said that the Presidential Aid Funds were handed over
to the Ministry of Finance for better management and supervision
on May 18.