Megawati, the biggest spender

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta

The pair of Megawati Soekarnoputri and Hasyim Muzadi collected and spent the highest amount of money on the July 5 presidential election, while the Hamzah Haz-Agum Gumelar ticket received and spent the least.

According to balance sheets of campaign funds submitted to the General Elections Commission (KPU) on Thursday, Megawati and Hasyim received a total of Rp 104.86 billion and spent Rp 85.94 billion, while Hamzah and Agum collected and spent Rp 16.24 billion.

Four of the five pairs contesting the July 5 election submitted their financial reports to the KPU on Thursday, the deadline for candidates to surrender the balance sheets of their campaign funds.

The Wiranto-Solahuddin Wahid pair failed to beat the 6 p.m. deadline.

"When we contacted the secretary of (Wiranto's success) team at 5 p.m., he told us that they were on the way to the KPU," KPU member Mulyana W. Kusuma said on Thursday.

He said the commission would wait for the report's submission.

Under the presidential election law, candidates have to submit their financial reports to the KPU three days after the date of the polls at the latest.

Mulyana, however, did not reveal the sources of the funds, or what the candidates had spent the money on.

He said the commission would hand over the reports to five public accounting firms the day after tomorrow at the latest.

The five are B. Bangun and Partner; Baehaqi and Partners; Bambang, Sucipto Ngumar and Partners; Tjahjo, Machdjud Modopuro and Partners; and Rodi Kartamulja, Budiman and Partners.

"The law says that the KPU must hand over the reports to appointed public accounting firms two days after the teams submit them. The offices must finish their work within 15 days," he said.

The KPU must publicize the audit results three days after obtaining them from the public accounting firms.

The Election Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu) said on Thursday that it would monitor the audit by requesting access from both the KPU and the Indonesia Accountant Association (IAI), and cooperating with poll watchdogs, such as the Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) and Indonesia Transparency International (TII).

"It is unfortunate that the law does not stipulate sanctions for those who do not submit their reports on time. So if one decides not to submit it, he or she does not breach any law," said Panwaslu chairman Komaruddin Hidayat.

TABLE

Candidates Revenue Expenditure Outstanding

Mega/Hasyim 104,860,148,709 85,940,551,128 18,919,597,581

Susilo/Kalla 71,712,588,310 71,225,675,216 486,913,094

Amien/Siswono 32,264,015,774 34,316,744,412 -52,728,638

Hamzah/Agum 16,248,561,463 16,248,378,120 183,342

Wiranto/Solahuddin ------