PPP scrutinizing 'corrupt' officials

JAKARTA (JP): The City Council's United Development Party (PPP) faction is currently collecting data and information to prove allegations of corruption perpetrated by 15 city administration officials, a faction member said yesterday.

Ali Imran Husein, one of the faction's deputy leaders, said the 15 officials had allegedly taken advantage of their positions for their own profit.

Ali refused to disclose the names and positions of the officials. He only said that the officials were from four different offices.

"The names, positions, types of misconduct and other details will be disclosed to the public soon after we finish our investigation," he said.

The faction, he said, was close to finishing its investigation as it had already collected 70 percent of the total data and facts it needed, including copies of land and house certificates and pictures of houses and cars believed to have been acquired by the officials through corruption or collusion practice.

The investigation was conducted independently by the faction in a way that would not violate the alleged officials' rights, he added.

"These officials are actually not aware that they were under 'investigation'. Please, bear in mind that we have never trespassed on their offices or properties when we collected data and facts," Ali said.

He guaranteed that the faction would be strictly fair and objective in examining the collected facts and data.

"We certainly will not expose the name of any official who is not completely, I repeat completely, proven of being involved in corruption or other malfeasance," he said.

The investigation into the officials was conducted in response to hundreds of reports supplied to the faction through telephone calls and letters from the public, he said.

On June 22 the faction officially invited the public to supply the faction members with information on possible corruption, collusion, cronyism and nepotism practices allegedly conducted by city officials, said Ali.

He said the information would be treated as confidential and used as background in the faction's investigation.

"We have received so far hundreds of calls and 20 letters from the public, mostly about their suspicions over particular officials who might be involved in wrongdoing," he said.

Ali said the results of the investigation would not only be revealed to the media but also sent to the police and the Attorney General's Office.

He lambasted the city administration for not disclosing the details of the 251 officials who were recently punished for misconduct.

"The governor should have given the details, including the names, positions, types of misconduct, the length of time over which the malfeasance took place, and so on," he said.

Governor Sutiyoso announced on June 22 that he had fired 37 officials, demoted 27, cut the salaries of eight, issued official notice of poor performance to 14, given less stern written reprimands to 69 and warned 96 others for various offenses ranging from disobeying office hours to collecting illegal levies.

Sutiyoso refused to give more details but said that the imposition of the sanctions on the 251 officials was recommended by the administration's Commission on Reform Control and Supervision, which was established June 12.

Ali said concealing the facts would not help other city officials learn from their colleagues' faults.

"The disclosure of names and details of misconduct is like a shock therapy for the rest of the officials so that they will think twice before getting involved in malfeasance again," he said. (cst)