Legislator denies accepting money from contractors
JAKARTA (JP): The House of Representatives' Commission VI for industry, mining, manpower and investment denied yesterday a newspaper report alleging House members have accepted money from mining firms to speed up the examination of their applications for concessions.
"I strongly deny the Kontan business weekly's story. We have never even met with any of the mining firms," Lili Asdjudiredja, deputy chairman of the commission, told The Jakarta Post yesterday.
The Kontan tabloid reported yesterday that the applicants of the Seventh Generation mining Contract of Works (COWs) had been asked to pay Rp 20 million (about US$7,900) per application for financing the commission's tour of inspection across the country.
The tour program, whereby commission members visit the provinces where concessions applied for by mining contractors are located, is part of the deliberation procedure before the commission "approves" the draft COWs.
The tabloid said the money was given to the commission through the Directorate General of Mining.
"The House always uses its own budget to finance working visits by its members on any tour to the provinces," said Lili, who is from the Golkar faction.
The mining laws require draft COWs to be consulted with the House before being approved by the President.
The Mines and Energy Ministry submitted 164 Seventh Generation draft COWs to the commission on July 21 for deliberation.
Consultation
Contractors expect consultation with the House will be completed during the tenure of the current House, ending in September.
They are afraid that if the current House fails to complete their examination of the draft COWs before September, the examination will be taken over by the new House which will be installed on Oct. 1. This means the process of examining COWs will start from the beginning again.
Some commission members, including Iskandar Mandji of Golkar, earlier hinted that the commission might demand changes to the draft COWs to give the government or state-owned companies a stake in new mining ventures.
Mining analysts said Mandji's move had made contractors worry that the process of consultation with the House wouldn't be smooth.
Lili assured yesterday that the consultation process would be smooth and fast as was the process of consultation regarding draft COWs of the previous generations.
He said the laws gave the House no right to make substantial changes to the COWs, but only to examine the COWs and, based on the inputs they gathered during their tour to the provinces, they could recommend some changes.
The government can either accept or reject the proposed changes, he said.
"That's the meaning of the word 'consultation' in our mining laws. Draft COWs are different from a bill, which the House can change before giving its approval," said Lili.
The 1967 Mining Law No 20 says in Chapter 10: "COWs become effective once the government approves them after consultation with the House of Representatives."
Lili said the commission's members had visited various provinces during the current recess period to gather inputs from the local people and local administrations regarding the concessions covered by the 164 draft COWs.
According to Lili, the commission's members will hold a hearing with the Director General of Mining next month in the final stage of consultations about the draft COWs.
The commission will then submit recommendations to the Director General of Mining.
"We hope the whole process can be completed by Sept. 15," Lili said. (jsk)