JP/4/kpk

Southeast Sulawesi governor reported to KPK

Eva C. Komandjaja The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Another major graft case was revealed on Wednesday when the Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) reported Southeast Sulawesi Governor Ali Mazi to the Corruption Eradication Commission for allegedly embezzling Rp 20.9 billion (US$2.3 million) from the provincial budget.

Representatives from the Southeast Sulawesi Pro-Democracy Society (Prodem Sultra) and Adnan Topan Husodo of the ICW accused Ali Mazi of marking up the price of purchasing and installing four generators for a power plant built in Kendari last year.

The generators were bought from a German company, Deutz, and were shipped by Deutz Asia-Pacific from Singapore. Each has a capacity of 375 kilovolts and 10,000 horsepower.

ICW and Prodem Sultra said Ali approved the Rp 28 billion project, although the actual cost was only approximately Rp 7.1 billion.

Adnan said ICW and Prodem Sultra had obtained invoices from Deutz Asia-Pacific stating that each generator cost roughly 150,000 euro, meaning the four generators only cost 600,000 euro (Rp 6.7 billion).

Accessories for the generators added up to about Rp 346 million, which made the total cost of the project Rp 20.9 billion less than approved budget of Rp 28 billion.

"It's impossible that they (the Ali Mazi administration) spent Rp 20.9 billion for the power plant since the installation cost was not that high," Adnan said.

He said the two organizations had studied a similar case in Jambi province, where the installation of two generators cost only around Rp 2.38 billion.

"Therefore, we have concluded that Governor Ali Mazi misused the money and we've asked the KPK to investigate," Adnan said.

Aside from the misuse, the project violated presidential decrees No. 18/2000 and No. 80/2003 because its contractor, PT Pramindo Sapta Utama, was appointed directly by the Southeast Sulawesi administration.

Under the regulations, any government project worth more than Rp 50 million must be made available through a public bid.

According to the Southeast Sulawesi administration, it directly appointed PT Pramindo because the province urgently needed the power plant.

"Law No. 31/1999 on corruption states that direct appointment can only occur during a state of emergency, such as the country being hit by a natural disaster or a monetary crisis. Direct appointment cannot be done in the case of a pressing situation," Adnan explained.

Hidayatullah of Prodem Sultra said the Southeast Sulawesi legislative council had reported the Ali Mazi case to the provincial prosecutor's office.

However, he said he was pessimistic that the prosecutors would follow up the report as the number of graft cases in the province was already high.

"Most graft cases involving high-ranking government officials have never been solved there. Most of them ended with deals being made between suspects and prosecutors," Hidayatullah said.

He said the prosecutors had previously questioned Aminudin Arif, who is a former head of the mining and energy agency in Kendari, and Asep Gatot, project chief from the agency, in the same case.

But the results of the questioning were unclear, he added.

Sukris Prayitno from the KPK's complaint division said that he would look into the case and examine whether the documents were complete.

"I cannot promise that the KPK will investigate the case straight away. We can only promise that we will study it first. Lately, we've received so many graft reports," Sukris said.