Legislators face trip markup case

Legislators face trip markup case

Tony Hotland, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

More irregularities have been unveiled in the use of state money
by members of the House of Representatives Commission III for
legal and human rights during their recent working visit to Bali.

The House secretariat general confirmed on Thursday that it
had disbursed payment for a 10-day visit for the legislators, but
was never notified that the visit had been shortened.

"We disbursed the amount of money according to the request by
the commission, which was for 10 days. If the visit had been cut
back, we should have been notified because we would've changed
the receipts," said deputy secretary general I Gusti Ayu Darsini.

The issue surfaced when legislator Djoko Edhi Soetjipto
Abdurrahman, of the National Mandate Party (PAN), said recently
he was to sign a receipt for expenses money covering a 10-day
visit, while he had known the trip was just four days. He refused
the money and did not go.

Fourteen legislators, led by commission deputy chairman Akil
Mochtar from the Golkar Party went on the working visit from July
10 to July 13. Each reportedly received Rp 13 million (US$1,333).

A copy of Akil's receipt also shows a payment for 10 days.

Akil said that after proposing to the House secretariat,
another internal meeting then decided to shorten the period to
four days and to require the legislators taking part in the visit
to return the remainder of the money.

Akil said that Djoko did not attend the meeting. However,
Djoko said he was never notified about the meeting nor its
results.

However, head of the House secretariat's travel division
Riyanto said the legislators had not returned the remainder of
the money two weeks after the visit ended.

"Reports of the visit and the return of any remainder of money
must be submitted to us at maximum 14 days after the last day of
the visit," he said.

Another irregularity was discovered when legislator Almuzammil
Yusuf from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), who joined the
visit, showed his receipt stating payment only for three days
totaling Rp 6.074 million.

"I was told by a commission employee that the visit would be
three days, so I told her to write for me a receipt for three
days. It turned out that we went a day earlier, so I told her to
change the receipt to four days," he said.

Muzammil said he was also never informed about any meeting to
cut the time of the trip.

The dates stated in Djoko's and Akil's receipts said the visit
took place from July 19 to July 28, while it actually occurred a
week earlier.

"It's odd because we normally disburse the money one or two
days before departure. So I don't know where they got the money
from. I'll have to ask the finance division and the commission
secretariat," said Darsini, who signed all the receipts.

The commission secretariat arranges the payments for working
visits of legislators.

Muzammil said the House lacked transparency in disbursing
public money, with legislators not required to report itemized
expenses for the visits they make.

Akil was unable to be reached for further comment on Thursday.
Danis M and Joko Susanto, two staffers at the Commission III
secretariat who also joined the visit were also unavailable.