Police plan to review cooperation with Tutut

Police plan to review cooperation with Tutut

JAKARTA (JP): The National Police will review its cooperation
agreement with a company belonging to Siti "Tutut" Hardijanti
Rukmana whose dealings it claims are riddled with corruption and
nepotism.

The police signed the five-year accord in 1992 with PT Citra
Permata Persada (PT CPP), which is owned by the eldest daughter
of former president Soeharto, to administer applications for
driver's licenses.

National Police Commander Gen. Dibyo Widodo said Thursday the
review was prompted by reports that the administrative fee for a
license was excessively high and the company had raked in huge
profits.

A reliable police source said the company's official
administrative fee was set at Rp 52,500 (US$5.20) for each
driver's license but only Rp 4,500 went to the state coffers.

"But, as you know, in practice the fee is much higher."

According to the source, there has never been a transparent
breakdown of the fee and the accord is still effective although
it expired a year ago.

"We will thoroughly review the cooperation as part of the
burning spirit to wipe out nepotism, collusion and corruption
within the police force," Dibyo said.

The National Police signed the contract with PT CPP as part of
its efforts to improve public services. Under the agreement, the
company was to help the police provide better equipment and
service in processing driver's licenses.

But the promised facilities have never been supplied, the
source said.

"All of the equipment was acquired by the police. They never
spent a penny. This is crazy. Therefore we call for an open
review and investigation into the matter."

The source noted that Jakarta Police Headquarters issues
between 2,500 and 3,000 driver's licenses every day.

"The police only get between Rp 11 million and Rp 14 million.
The rest of the money goes into PT CPP's accounts in Bank
International Indonesia (BII), which was appointed as the fee
receiver," he said.

BII is a subsidiary of the widely diversified Sinar Mas Group,
owned by tycoon Eka Tjipta Widjaja.

"We suspect there is collusion between PT CPP and Sinar Mas
Group because a relative of Eka Tjipta, Jimmy, is the managing
director of PT CPP," the source said.

When contacted by reporters, Sinar Mas Group spokeswoman Joyce
A., said Wednesday that she was unaware of the situation.

"All I know is that BII has been assigned to keep the money
from driver's license fees. But I have no idea where the money
goes to.

"I only know that Pak Jimmy is a friend of Mbak Tutut. But I
really don't know more than that." (edt)