Prosecutor hints at new KPUD suspect
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.