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)