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.