Medan councillors to probe corruption

Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan

Councillors in Medan, North Sumatra, said on Thursday they would probe the alleged misuse of Rp 7.6 billion (about US$853,000) in state funds, which were earmarked for aiding the poor following the recent rise in fuel prices.

The deputy speaker of the Medan Mayoralty, Syahdansyah Putra, said a team of councillors would search for the missing money from the total of Rp 21.9 billion alloted to the province last year for social welfare.

"The subsidy was clearly meant for the people, so the council will try to return it to them," Syahdansyah told The Jakarta Post.

He said the council's team would continue the investigation until they found the perpetrators.

The chairman of the National Mandate faction, Putrama Alkhairi, said the investigation was an ideal chance for councillors to clear themselves amid various charges of corruption and collusion made against them. "This is an important opportunity to clear the legislature's tainted image," he said.

News of the leakage came from the head of the Regional Development Planning Board (Bappeda), Hermes Joni, who said earlier that his office was unable to locate Rp 7.5 billion of the Rp 21.9 billion Jakarta had disbursed in 2002.

Of the missing funds, Rp 6.57 billion was leaked from programs under the transportation sector, while the remainder came from social assistance programs, Hermes said.