Officials in WB-financed projects fired
Officials in WB-financed projects fired
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Education and Culture Juwono
Sudarsono said 20 high-ranking education officials had been
removed from their positions for alleged involvement in
malfeasance in some World Bank-funded school textbook projects.
Addressing reporters after attending the opening session of
the Indonesian language congress here on Monday, Juwono said his
office had submitted reports about the case to the World Bank.
Juwono said after opening the Indonesian Language Congress
that his ministry had submitted reports to bank's country
director, Dennis de Tray.
He said the reports detailed irregularities found in
negotiations between book publishers and several departments
within the ministry, both in the national and provincial
administrations.
He cited as an example irregularities found in the textbook
tender procedures.
"We are at the stage of gathering evidence. The problem is, it
is difficult to get sufficient proof as the suspects could have
covered their tracks."
The ministry has questioned parties involved in the alleged
corruption.
"We've heard the testimony of former director general of
primary and secondary education (Z.A. Achmadi) about this case,"
Juwono said, adding that it was possible to also investigate the
head of the textbook projects.
He did not say how many projects there were or mention any
names.
Most of the data received were in the form of photocopies of
documents. "I have to be very careful because it is possible for
the data to be engineered," he said. "Maybe the parties who
submitted the evidence bore a grudge against the officials they
implicated. That is why we have to be very careful."
The school textbook projects received huge World Bank funding.
The Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) estimated last month
that up to 30 percent of the Rp 1.3 trillion fund from the World
Bank for the book projects had been embezzled.
The ministry has denied ICW's accusations, saying that the
bidding process was jointly supervised by the ministry and the
World Bank.
Juwono criticized ICW because up until now the corruption
watch body has yet to give sufficient proof for its allegations.
Juwono also spoke about alleged embezzlement of World Bank
funds allotted for the construction of schools.
A World Bank supervisory inspection in August found that out
of 41 schools built in East Java in the 1997/1998 fiscal year, 18
were found either incomplete or substandard.
Last year the World Bank financed the construction of 182
junior high school buildings in rural and remote areas of 10
provinces in the country. (edt)