Prosecutor hints at new KPUD suspect
Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
The Jakarta Prosecutors' Office hinted at a new suspect in a corruption case revolving around the Jakarta General Elections Commission (KPUD), with at least Rp 13 billion (US$1.36 million) believed to have been misused during the legislative and presidential elections in 2004.
Head of the office's interrogation team Syaeful Taher said on Friday that the suspect was be a KPUD member, who, together with KPUD chairman Muhammad Taufik, was deeply involved in all tender processes.
Taufik has already been declared a suspect and is scheduled to be interrogated next Monday.
Syaeful, however, refused to state the name of the KPUD member.
"We will gather more evidence to make sure of his involvement in the corruption case," Syaeful told The Jakarta Post after questioning Neneng, a KPUD treasurer responsible for funds provided out of the city budget and KPUD member A. Riza Patria.
Prosecutors had previously questioned KPUD secretary Abdullah Achmad, former KPUD secretary Ismeth S. Hasan, head of the KPUD's general affairs section Basuki, and the KPUD treasurer responsible for funds provided out of the state budget, Sri Suskandariyah.
According to Syaeful, based on the questioning of several witnesses the prosecutors had already concluded that losses of Rp 4.2 billion had been inflicted on the state as KPUD members failed to pay income and value-added taxes.
He said that the losses to the state would likely be much more higher after the prosecutors obtained more evidences on alleged markups in the procurement of election supplies.
Syaeful said his office would also summon the contractors who supplied the KPUD with election materials for questioning.
He said that they would be able to supply information about the value of markups.
On Thursday, his office sealed the office of the KPUD chairman on Jl. Suprapto, Cempaka Putih, Central Jakarta, to prevent KPUD officials from tampering with or destroying evidence.
The alleged corruption in the KPUD was first revealed by the City Council's Commission A for legal and administrative affairs after it conducted several hearings with KPUD members and staffers.
Apart from revealing the KPUD's failure to pay taxes, Commission A also discovered questionable tenders and an alleged markup in the purchase of 180,000 vests for Rp 12 billion (or Rp 66,000 each). That price was much higher than the market price of Rp 25,000 per vest, the commission said.
The KPUD has also been accused of marking up the rents on three houses it uses for offices in Kepulauan Seribu regency.
According to a report from the KPUD, the rent for the three houses totaled Rp 170 million a year. However, it is believed the commission only paid Rp 25 million a year to the owners of the houses.
Governor Sutiyoso on Friday reiterated his support for the prosecutors' efforts to probe corruption in the Jakarta KPUD.