Jasa Marga officials charged in toll road scam

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta

The Attorney General's Office officially named on Thursday four officials of state-owned toll road operator PT Jasa Marga as suspects in the embezzlement of Rp 74 billion (US$8.2 million) intended to purchase land for the Taman Mini-Cikunir toll road.

The suspects include the deputy head of Jasa Marga's payment committee, Daud Jatmiko, Attorney General's Office spokesman Kemas Yahya Rahman said, declining to identify the other three suspects.

"We have questioned 30 witnesses since we launched the investigation into the case in 2003. We found sufficient evidence that the four officials took money allocated for land clearance for the toll road," said Kemas.

The construction of the 12-kilometer toll road is currently underway and the road eventually will connect Taman Mini in East Jakarta with Cikunir in Bekasi, West Java.

The project, which will cost hundreds of billions of rupiah, began in 2003, Kemas said.

He said several other officials from the East Jakarta mayor's office and from Jasa Marga could be charged with involvement in the graft as the investigation continued.

"We are now questioning East Jakarta Mayor Koesnan A Halim as a witness to clarify the project, because part of the construction falls within his jurisdiction," Kemas said.

The spokesman said the investigation was almost finished and that his office would soon bring the case to court.

Allegations of corruption involving officials from Jasa Marga and its developer partners, as well as officials from local administrations, have caught the public's attention over the last several years.

Many have blamed the corruption for increases in toll road fees.

The Indonesian Corruption Watch recently announced that at least 21 toll road projects in Jakarta and West Java had allegedly caused billions of rupiah in state losses.

The alleged graft cases include corruption in the construction of the Jakarta-Tangerang toll road from 1996 to 1997, which is thought to have cost the state at least Rp 12.5 billion in losses.

Another suspected case is the Cawang-Bitung toll road project in 1998, which is believed to have cost the state about Rp 57.9 billion in losses.

Another high-profile scandal involved Rp 811 billion of falsified commercial papers to finance the development of the Cawang-Tanjung Priok and Pondok Pinang-Jagorawi toll roads.

A number of businesspeople, including PT Hutama Karya directors Tjokorda Raka Sukawati and Thamrin Tandjung, were allegedly involved in that case.

Tjokorda and Thamrin were sentenced to one year and two years in prison, respectively, over the case. Another businessman who was investigated in connection with the case was Mustika Ratu owner Mooryati Soedibyo's son-in-law Djoko Ramiadji, but the Attorney General's Office eventually halted its investigation of him.

Many anticorruption activists and analysts have expressed doubt over the Attorney General's Office desire to resolve these scandals and recover the stolen state money.

They cited the example of the alleged major corruptors of Bank Indonesia liquidity assistance funds who have been able to avoid justice.