KPU officials pass the buck

KPU officials pass the buck

Tony Hotland, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Members of the General Elections Commission (KPU) maintained
their innocence against charges of corruption before House of
Representatives legislators on Monday, attempting to throw guilt
onto the KPU secretariat general.

While the KPU members were busy justifying themselves, the
commission's deputy secretary general Sussongko Suhardjo let the
cat out of the bag by stating that it was KPU chief Nazaruddin
Syamsuddin who had ordered a bribe payment for a state auditor in
order to influence his audit results, which subsequently led to
the arrest of commission member and noted criminologist Mulyana
W. Kusumah.

During a hearing with House Commission II on home affairs,
Nazaruddin said the KPU secretariat general had managed all
specific uses of funds disbursed by the commission.

"We are only policy makers. Even if we had conducted tenders,
we only made policies and left the execution to the secretariat
general," Nazaruddin told legislators.

The KPU members were summoned by the House to clarify a
Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) investigative audit that indicates
over Rp 90 billion (US$9.47 million) in KPU funds had been
misappropriated during last year's legislative election.

Asked why the members never demanded that the secretariat
general clarify the matter, Nazaruddin said he had lost contact
with then secretary general Safder Yusaac.

"He (Safder) has not been with the KPU since January,"
Nazaruddin said. Safder is now with the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Sussongko's lawyer Gunawan Oetomo said Nazaruddin was
responsible for the bribe given to the BPK auditor.

"Verbal instructions were also rendered by (treasurer) Hamdani
Amin and Safder," Gunawan said while accompanying his client, who
has been declared a suspect, during questioning at the office of
the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

Hamdani, another suspect in the bribery case, said last week
that the KPU had collected some Rp 20 billion from election
material supplier firms as kickbacks, which was later shared
among all members and some staffers.

He said each member had received about US$105,000, and the
funds were also shared with House members, BPK staffers and
bureaucrats at the Ministry of Finance.

As if to alarm KPU members to speak the truth, Hamdani's
lawyer Abidin quoted his client as saying that the collection of
such funds had been agreed during two KPU plenary sessions.

"The first one was attended by Nazaruddin and (deputy) Ramlan
Surbakti, while the second was attended by all KPU members, the
secretariat general and all heads of bureau," he said.

Nazaruddin denied the accusations, even claiming that he was
confused as to why Mulyana would bother to bribe the BPK since
there was nothing corrupt to hide.

Seconded by seven remaining KPU members, Nazaruddin said the
BPK report contained numerous mistakes. The KPU even proposed the
appointment of an independent auditor, which lawmakers quickly
brushed off.

He admitted that the KPU violated regulations in some
instances, such as increasing additional ballot papers by 10
percent instead of the required 2 percent, and giving a rise to
self-estimated prices of ballot papers, due to the "tight" and
"abnormal" technical situations it was facing back then.