Pasar Jaya employee held on graft

Pasar Jaya employee held on graft

JAKARTA (JP): The police have detained an official of the
municipal market authority, PD Pasar Jaya, who has allegedly
embezzled Rp400 million (US$185,442) of the company's funds.

Atin Setiadi, 36, was arrested on Sunday in Saketi village,
Pandeglang, West Java, six months after he went into hiding.

Lihardin Sipayung, the state-owned company's spokesman, said
yesterday that Atin, a former official at the company's treasury
section, was arrested by police at 11 p.m.

He added that the case is being processed by the prosecutor's
office.

He told The Jakarta Post that the company will immediately
file a charge against Atin.

The alleged embezzlement case was revealed early this year.

Earlier Lihardin said that Atin had acquired the sum through
various schemes, including manipulating employees' pension funds,
insurance premiums, and registration fees. He added that the
alleged fraud had been going on for years.

It is also reported that Atin was responsible for PD Pasar
Jaya's unpaid income taxes which should have be paid at the
branch office of Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) on Jl. Cut Mutiah,
Central Jakarta. He blocked the tax payment because he was able
to make fake copies of their tax receipts. Atin allegedly managed
to lead the company's treasurer into believing that the fake
receipts were genuine. However, the fraud was detected when the
receipts were submitted at the time of payment.

Prawoto S. Danoemihardjo, the assistant of the city secretary
in charge of economy and development, partly blamed the fraud on
lack of supervision.

Meanwhile, city councilors said they believed the embezzlement
involved the company's high-ranking officials. The councilors
argued that it was impossible for a low-ranking official like
Atin to steal such huge sums from the company without the
knowledge or cooperation from his superiors.

The embezzlement caused Rp3.4 billion (US$1.6 million) in
losses to the municipal administration. The figure will likely to
go higher once the company completed its investigation into the
amount of money Atin had collected from the fake tax receipts.

A preliminary estimate put the figure to as much as Rp2
billion ($927,213) after the company found some fake receipts
totaling more than Rp400 million.

Prior to the disclosure of Atin's case, the company had
uncovered a Rp134 million ($62,123) fraud which occurred in
August 1992, involving its treasurer identified as R.S.

The treasurer, who is now in police custody, reportedly
committed the crime during his 1974-1984 term in office. (03)