Official denies involvement in Rp 100b markup case

Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post/Bandung

A former West Java official denied on Friday that he had been involved in a markup scam worth Rp 100 billion (US$10.6 million) last year as has been reported by local antigraft activists.

There were no irregularities in the purchase of heavy equipment worth Rp 100 billion, said Wahyu Kurnia, the former chief of the Equipment Bureau in the West Java provincial administration.

"I have been questioned by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and I told them that there were no markups," said Wahyu on Friday.

According to Wahyu, the price had been determined by the agent who had imported the equipment from Japan to West Java province, and that no markups were involved.

"I don't know why the antigraft activists have a different story about the price. This needs to be clarified," said Wahyu.

The alleged graft surfaced after the Bandung Institute for Government Studies (BIGS) reported a number of local government officials to the KPK on Wednesday for allegedly marking up the price of the heavy equipment.

Dedi Haryadi, the executive director of BIGS, said that government officials had bought the heavy equipment, which included dump trucks, ambulances and fire trucks, for Rp 100 billion last year. The equipment was to have been allocated to 25 regencies and municipalities across West Java province. But, when BIGS checked the market prices, they found that the total should have come to only Rp 60 billion.

"We suspect that markups were involved as the difference was too big," said Haryadi.

As an example, Haryadi said that the administration had set the price of an ambulance at Rp 400 million. But, when BIGS checked the market price, it was found that the price should have been only Rp 300 million.

"This is only one of the 541 items purchased by the Equipment Bureau. We are demanding a thorough audit," said Haryadi.

Haryadi chose to report the case to the KPK rather than the police or prosecutor's office as it considered the KPK to be more credible.

He said that the performance of the police and prosecutors had been disappointing as they were slow to investigate corruption cases, as shown by the investigation into corruption worth Rp 33.4 billion allegedly perpetrated by former West Java councillors. This investigation had been underway for two years and nothing of note had been achieved to date.

West Java Governor Danny Setiawan said that he was ready to be questioned in the case. But he believed that his former subordinates had acted properly.

"The purchases should have been discussed with the public representatives on the budget committee of the West Java provincial council, but I believe there is nothing wrong with them," he said.