Ministry uncovers Rp2.6t graft
JAKARTA (JP): The Ministry of Home Affairs disclosed on Tuesday corruption cases which cost the government a whopping Rp 2.6 trillion (US$388 million).
The amount, which is more than a third of the figure related to embezzled state funds unveiled by the government last week, was calculated from cases of graft between October last year and February this year, the ministry's Inspector General Andi Jalal Bachtiar said.
Of the state funds embezzled, only Rp 959 billion has been recovered, Jalal added.
Coordinating Minister for Development Supervision and Administrative Reforms Hartarto Sastrosoenarto announced last week that 3,025 corruption cases involving Rp 7.21 trillion in state funds had been uncovered during the 1998/1999 fiscal year, which ended on April 1.
Jalal said that corruption mostly occurred in the procurement of goods and the tendering of projects.
In terms of graft in provinces, Jakarta topped the list with Rp 115 billion, followed by East Java with Rp 95 billion and West Java third with Rp 38 billion.
Antara quoted Jalal as saying that in connection with graft found in provinces, the ministry's inspectorate general would quiz 20 governors. He did not name the governors.
The inspectorate general will also question the ministry's former secretary-general Feisal Tamin, who resigned late May in order to concentrate on chairing the Civil Servants Corps (Korpri).
Apart from the anticorruption drive, the ministry has dismissed nine regents, including Col. Sri Roso Sudarmo of Bantul in Yogyakarta. He was sentenced to nine months in jail for attempted bribery to pave the way for his reelection.
Other regents were from Asahan and Langkat in North Sumatra and Tegal in Central Java.
Jalal said the ministry had imposed punitive measures on 144 employees, nine of them were fired, 16 suspended and others demoted or reprimanded.
Another 333 face investigation.
Surprise
In response to the ministry's findings, the Jakarta administration's secretary Fauzie Bowo said he did not deny that corruption occurred in the provincial administration, but the amount surprised him.
"We doubted corruption here had reached such an alarming level as that announced by the ministry," Fauzie said.
Fauzie questioned the criteria set by the ministry to gauge the level of corruption in provinces.
Several city officials are now under investigation by the prosecutor's office for alleged corruption.
Among the biggest cases are a Rp 12 billion land scam at city- owned construction company PD Pembangunan Sarana Jaya, a Rp 2 billion corruption case at city-owned Bank DKI and Rp 2.6 billion land scam reportedly involving former West Jakarta mayor Sutardjianto.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Communications announced on Tuesday that it had canceled 12 infrastructure projects under the ministry on the grounds that they were tainted with corruption, collusion and nepotism. Some of the projects were linked to former president Soeharto's family and friends.
Minister of Communications Giri Suseno Hadihardjono said the projects, which were to be jointly developed by private companies and state companies under his office, would have resulted in substantial losses to the government had they gone ahead.
"We decided to cancel those projects because private partners in the canceled projects were appointed directly by the government without competitive tender," he said in a media conference.
Most of the projects, Giri said, had not entered the construction phase, even though some of the contracts had been signed in 1995.
"However, some of the projects will be continued in the future if they are considered beneficial to the public. But we have to find new suitable partners through open tender," he said.
PT Citra Lamtoro Gung Persada, owned by Soeharto's eldest daughter Siti Hardijanti Indra Rukmana, lost its contract with state railway company PT Kereta Api Indonesia (PT KAI) to develop and operate a Rp 450 billion railway in West Java's capital of Bandung.
PT Humpuss Terminal Petikemas, owned by Soeharto's youngest son Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra lost its contract with KAI to develop a container terminal in Gedebage Baru, West Java.
PT Tri Daya Esta, owned by Tommy's brother Bambang Trihatmodjo lost its contracts to develop Rp 478.9 billion railway linking Merak-Urak-Tuban-Babat and freight car railway for state cement producer PT Semen Gresik.
The ministry also canceled PT KAI's contract with the Ciputra Group for the development of container terminals in Gedebage Padalarang and Cikupa, Tangerang.
However, most of journalists attending the news conference were not satisfied with the ministry's findings, saying that it was merely "for the sake of courtesy".
Giri, they said, had failed to reveal massive corruption allegedly practiced by his predecessor Haryanto Dhanutirto.
Giri, however, defended his team, saying it could not find any evidence in relation to Haryanto.
Separately the Ministry of Education and Culture announced its inspectorate general had recommended the Minister to ask for the accountability of the head of the Lampung provincial office for unclear use of funds of Rp 52.6 million, Antara reported.
The Ministry had also proved abuse of Rp 3.2 billion in the project of school buildings in West Java, and the head of the provincial office would be replaced. The ministry officials avoided elaborating on the question of the much reported alleged corruption in World Bank funds for school books.(gis/ind/amd)