KPU Jakarta graft suspects all jailed

KPU Jakarta graft suspects all jailed

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

All three Jakarta General Elections Commission (KPU Jakarta)
graft suspects have been taken into custody by the prosecutor's
office, with commission member A. Riza Patria the last to be put
behind bars on Friday.

The suspects, including chairman Muhammad Taufik and treasurer
Neneng Euis Palupi, allegedly misused Rp 168.6 billion (US$17.5
million) in city budget funds for the 2004 elections.

Apart from receiving money from the city budget, KPU Jakarta
also received Rp 5.5 billion from the state budget.

Jakarta Prosecutor's Office spokesman Hartono said Riza was
sent to Salemba Penitentiary, Central Jakarta, after hours of
questioning.

Taufik is being detained at the South Jakarta Prosecutor's
Office detention center, while Neneng is being detained at the
Pondok Bambu Women's Penitentiary in East Jakarta.

"We detained Riza and the other two to prevent them from
running away or destroying evidence," Hartono told The Jakarta
Post.

The chairman of the investigating team, Syaeful Taher, said
Riza's questioning focused on his role in the procurement of
election materials, which was apparently not conducted in
accordance with the law.

Syaeful pointed out that Presidential Decree No.80/2003 on
procurements for government goods and services stipulates that
biddings for goods and services that are financed through
state/regional budgets must be conducted by civil servants.

The KPU Jakarta members are not civil servants.

"He (Riza) was the second most responsible figure for the
procurement of election materials after Taufik," Syaeful told the
Post.

Syaeful said Riza was uncooperative during interrogation as he
gave complicated answers in response to questions from the team.

Investigation into the alleged corruption in the KPUD is based
on reports made by City Council's Commission A for legal and
administrative affairs, which found a number of irregularities in
good and service procurements.

Commission A, which investigated the alleged misuse of funds
by KPU Jakarta members during the 2004 elections, said earlier
that it had found irregularities resulting in state losses
amounting to Rp 13 billion.

It alleged that the poll commission had failed to pay Rp 4.2
billion in personnel income and value-added taxes.

It also discovered questionable tenders and an alleged markup
in the purchase of 180,000 vests for Rp 12 billion (or Rp 66,000
each). The price was far higher than the market price of Rp
25,000 per vest, the commission said.

The commission has also been accused of marking up the rent on
three houses it uses for offices in Kepulauan Seribu regency, as
it apparently only paid Rp 25 million a year to the owners of the
houses, not the Rp 170 million for the three houses that it
reported.