Latief queried over misuse of funds
Latief queried over misuse of funds
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Manpower Abdul Latief and the state-
owned workers' social insurance company PT Jamsostek came under
scrutiny yesterday for allegedly allocating Rp 7.1 billion
(US$2.15 million) of the company's money for House of
Representatives' legislators who deliberated the manpower bill.
Copies of documents made available to The Jakarta Post
yesterday say that, upon Latief's request, Jamsostek disbursed
the funds for 44 legislators who joined a House special committee
deliberating the bill.
According to the documents, the insurance company was
originally asked by the ministry to earmark Rp 5.1 billion. A
July 21 letter from an official at the Ministry of Manpower, Yudo
Swasono, says that Latief informally asked for an additional Rp
2.1 billion.
Two Jamsostek commissioners, Sophar Lumbantorian and Suwarto,
approved the request for the extra money in a letter dated July
25.
The funds were transferred from Jamsostek's bank, Bank Agro,
to Yudo and Sumarni, an official of the House, in several
remittances between June and July. One of the documents says the
funds were given to the legislators as "session money".
The 1992/1997 House, whose term ended on Sept. 30, passed the
controversial bill on Sept. 11 after two months of deliberation.
Lobbying and extra meetings were held during a House recess,
including those held in a hotel in Jakarta.
The government will wait until Oct. 1 next year to enact the
bill into law to prepare necessary supporting regulations.
Both Latief and Jamsostek director general Abdillah Nusi
refused to comment yesterday.
"Don't ask me. Ask the Jamsostek director general. What do I
know?" Latief told reporters after a press conference on a plan
to disburse Jamsostek's funds worth Rp 3 trillion for small-scale
businesses at his office.
As of this month, more than 12.2 million people who work in
74,174 private and state companies have joined the Jamsostek
program. More than 2.2 million workers are registered policy
holders through the special program under, among other things,
gubernatorial decrees.
Its assets totaled Rp 5.6 trillion as of Sept. 30, 1997, a
22.14 percent increase from last year.
Muhsin Bafadal, a United Development Party legislator who was
a member of the House committee deliberating the bill, said he
did not know anything about the financial support.
"We were never informed of this matter during the
deliberation. It's true that I received some money due to my
participation in the committee, but it was not much. The amount
was in accordance to House rules," he said.
He said if Jamsostek did earmark the funds, it was not the
House's business. "The government may have spent a lot of money
because we stayed in a hotel for more than one and a half months
to deliberate the bill," he said. (09/rid/amd)