Lawmakers accused of 'selling' relief aid
Lawmakers accused of 'selling' relief aid
Tony Hotland, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Anton (not his real name) tagged along with his superior, a high-
ranking local government official, to meet a House of
Representatives member. Their mission: to try steal budgeted
funds meant for disaster recovery.
At the meeting, the official and the legislator discussed sums
of up to Rp 20 billion (US$1.95 million), with the budget
increasing another 10 percent if the official agreed to later
share half of the aid with the legislator.
A broker had arranged the discussion -- someone with close
links to regents and mayors. Anton could not specify his fee.
He spoke on condition of anonymity to The Jakarta Post during
the weekend, telling of how he had witnessed the alleged plans
for embezzlement. The names of the parties or the outcome of the
negotiations have not been revealed. Anton, meanwhile, has
promised to work undercover for the House to detect other
politicians trying to steal money.
His testimony follows a move last week by legislator M. Darus
Agap, of House Commission V on public works and rural
development, to publicize a document he had discovered naming
House members, which it said were allegedly "selling" Rp 609
billion in state funds to the local administrations of 174
disaster-struck areas.
Darus accused the legislators of corruption and called on
House leaders to take legal action to stamp out the practice.
A number of non-House members were named as the "keepers" of
the funds detailed in the document. None of their names can be
released for legal reasons.
Another similar document was sent late last week to leaders of
House factions and bodies.
It contains a table of draft of 2005 disaster mitigation funds
data worth Rp 2.03 trillion -- more than Rp 930 billion more than
the proposals from the Ministry of Public Works, Ministry of
Health, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Education, Ministry
of Social Affairs and Ministry of Religious Affairs.
Written in the "details" column on the table are names of who
allegedly have a "coordinating" role in the disbursement of the
funds for each area.
Most of them are identified as budgetary committee members,
while others seem to be outsiders.
The House members listed come from the Golkar Party,
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), National Mandate
Party (PAN), the National Awakening Party (PKB), Star Reform
Party (PBR) and Star Crescent Party (PBB).
A source told the Post House members usually made deals about
the amount and disbursement of the funds with officials from
their, which were "easier to arrange".
House disciplinary council chairman Slamet Effendi Yusuf
confirmed he had received copies of both documents and vowed to
look into the accusations detailed. However, Slamet said he would
do nothing until he received an official report from the House
leadership or a public complaint.
Slamet said rumors about such practices were common but
obtaining solid evidence remained a stumbling block for
investigations.
However, the system was open to abuse, Slamet said, because
members of the budgetary committee were lawmakers who could
propose state budget revisions and give the go-ahead for
disbursements.
"The bizarre thing is the so-called guarding and coordinating
task of House members. Even if we think positively that they're
simply monitoring, this should not be their duty but that of the
House Commission V," he said.
He called on anyone who had been offered bribes or
embezzlement opportunities by House legislators to come forward.
"The disbursement of funds to reconstruct disaster-struck
areas is indeed difficult to monitor. (Legislators) can claim
they has disbursed some millions of rupiah, but often the impact
is barely visible. Of course this is because the fund has been
stolen in many places, thus leaving little for the truly needy,"
Slamet said.