No bribes found in city-owned firms: Kahfi

JAKARTA (JP): Deputy Governor of Administrative Affairs Abdul Kahfi insisted on Monday that the city's Reform Team, that he chaired, had not had any reports of alleged bribery by city owned firms to auditors of the Development Finance Comptroller (BPKP).

"It's just PD Pasar Jaya which reported the matter," Kahfi said, referring to the city run market operator company whose boss admitted last week of having given "incentives" totaling Rp 60 million to BPKP auditors.

Kahfi, who is also head of the city's inspectorate, also denied that auditors from his office had received similar illicit "tips" when auditing the firms' financial records.

"But if there are reports (on such alleged misdeeds), please let us know. So far, we've received no reports on the case," he said after a meeting led by Governor Sutiyoso on public order across the capital.

Pasar Jaya's president Syahrir Tanjung rocked the Jakarta administration office when he announced that his company had handed over tips to 10 BPKP auditors, who audited the firm's 1997 financial report.

He insisted that the payments occurred with Sutiyoso's knowledge and approval.

On Monday, Syahrir urged reporters not to further run the report of the alleged misdeeds of the BPKP auditors.

"(I) pity the BPKP men," he begged.

Many councilors believe that other city-owned firms also gave money not only to the BPKP officials but also to auditors from the city's inspectorate office and tax offices.

The city owns 60 firms.

Sutiyoso on Friday denied knowledge of the payments, adding that such illegal practice could be a legacy of the rampant corruption in the bureaucracy of the past.

The alleged under-the-table payment conducted by both BPKP auditors and Pasar Jaya executives also sparked anger from legal observers.

Indonesian Corruption Watch executive Bambang Widjoyanto and criminal law expert Loebby Loqman have called on the central government to investigate the alleged corruption to help boost the country's anticorruption drive.

During the meeting with the city's high-ranking officials, Governor Sutiyoso ordered all of the five mayors to take all necessary action to manage public order in their respective areas.

"So far, it seems that the actions (to make public order) have not been synchronous," Kahfi said after the meeting.

Many councilors have criticized the mayors' alleged habits of waiting for the governor's instruction before taking any action to properly handle problems in their respective areas.

On many occasions, Sutiyoso said, he had given the mayors authority to handle their own problems.

An ongoing dispute with traders at the crowded Taman Puring flea market in South Jakarta and the problematic arrangement with pedicab drivers are just a few examples of the lack of coordination between the city administration and the mayoralties.

According to Kahfi, officials at the mayoralty level often ask people to go to City Hall for solutions to their problems although they were responsible for settling the disputes.

The dispute between Taman Puring traders and the South Jakarta mayoralty office about the planned demolition of the flea market has not yet been settled as the local authorities have admitted to waiting for the city administration's final decision.

But Mayor Abdul Mufti announced that the plan to demolish shops in the flea market had been temporarily postponed.

"The demolition will not be carried out until the traders are made aware of the plan," he said in a break during the meeting at City Hall. (jun)