Nine officials punished over Ancol scam
JAKARTA (JP): The city administration announced on Wednesday that sanctions would be imposed on nine of the 11 officials investigated in connection with controversial overseas trips made last October.
Head of the investigation team from the City Inspectorate Office Sudirman Arifin said the officials, mostly low-ranking staffers, were found guilty of misuse of funds and making the trips without the governor's knowledge.
"Based on our investigation of the 11 city officials in respect of administrative irregularities, nine of them have misused funds and participated in an overseas trip without the governor's consent," said Sudirman. He declined to identify the errant officials.
The most serious violation was committed by five officials, who worked as staffers and senior officials in the City Council Secretariat. Sudirman said that all of them had accepted two travel allowances, one from the city administration and one from the partly city-owned company PT Pembangunan Jaya Ancol (PJA).
"One of them will be denied his annual promotion, another two will not receive their annual salary increments, while the remaining two will be issued with letters of censure from the governor," explained Sudirman.
He said that each of the officials had received about Rp 50 million taken from the 2000 city budget, on top of the allowances provided by PJA.
The city funds, totaling Rp 205 million, have been returned to the City Petty Cash Office, said Sudirman.
"These sanctions are considered 'medium to light', but it will affect their career appraisals in the future," said Sudirman.
Meanwhile, the other four city officials would each receive a verbal warning.
According to the findings of the investigation, some of the officials had also extended their trips to other destinations which were not included in the official itinerary.
Citing an example, Sudirman said those who participated in the trip to Tokyo continued on to Seoul and Hong Kong.
"It proves that they have violated the schedule and budget set for their assignments," said Sudirman.
The trips drew controversy due to allegations that PJA paid Rp 2.1 billion to fund the so-called comparative studies for a group of 45 people comprising councillors and city officials between Oct. 9 and Oct. 15. The trips were to three different destinations -- Cape Town and Johannesburg, Sydney, and Tokyo. Governor Sutiyoso has confirmed that the fund was disbursed without his approval as the chief commissioner of the company.
Sudirman said that the investigators found two city officials innocent of any wrongdoing as their participation in the trips had been approved by the governor, even though they admitted to having received an allowance from PAJ.
Speculation had been rife prior to Wednesday's announcement that the city administration would sacrifice lower ranking officials as scapegoats in the scam.
However, Sutiyoso defended his administration on Wednesday, saying that he had taken fair measures against those found guilty in the Ancol scam.
"I'm not afraid to punish them since they are all my staff," Sutiyoso told journalists after presenting awards to the winners of a small business competition at City Hall.
He claimed that he had asked the city's disciplinary council to review the results of the investigation before definitively imposing the administrative sanctions.
Among the top city officials interrogated were Jakarta Development Agency chief Bambang Sungkono, the City Land Agency chief Ahmaddin Ahmad and his deputy Nurfakih.
The Jakarta Prosecutor Office's has questioned 14 councillors who participated in the trips in connection with the scandal.
The city administration punished 24 officials in March of last year after they were found guilty of misusing city advertising funds.
The sanctions included dismissal, demotion and administrative sanctions. (04/07)