Prosecutors to summon former Lampung governor over graft

Oyos Saroso H.N., The Jakarta Post, Bandarlampung, Lampung

Head of the Lampung Prosecutor's Office Putu Kusa said on Tuesday he would soon summon former governor Oemarsono for questioning in a Rp 1.17 billion corruption case concerning textbook procurement.

Oemarsono, who lost the gubernatorial election last year, will be quizzed as a witness, he said in the provincial capital of Bandarlampung.

Putu said the former governor had to clarify his alleged decision to directly appoint a contractor for the atlas procurement project last year without organizing an open tender as required by law.

The prosecutors have detained the head of the province's village community empowerment agency, Merayu Sukma, as a suspect in the same case.

The planned summons for Oemarsono followed confessions by Merayu that the direct appointment of the contractor was arranged by the former governor.

"I was ordered by the then governor by phone in May 2001 to appoint CV Yudhistira based in East Jakarta to handle the atlas procurement project," Merayu said.

But Oemarsono flatly denied the corruption allegations against him. "It's not true. I myself asked for a financial audit agency to examine any possible irregularities in the project," he claimed.

Reliable sources told The Jakarta Post that the provincial education office was one of Oemarsono's financial sources to garner funds for his reelection bid last December.

Citing evidence, they said that 50 percent of the contract value was paid to the former governor.

In a related development, prosecutors have declared the head of the Lampung education office Sutoto a suspect in another graft case concerning a textbook contract worth Rp 6.3 billion.

Darmono, who is a deputy prosecutor tasked with dealing with the corruption cases against Sutoto, said the investigation showed there were financial irregularities in the project.

"In the procurement project worth Rp 6.3 billion, Sutoto and his cronies received an allocation of Rp 3 billion. It's outrageous," he said.

The project was shared by 22 contractors, almost all of which were named through direct appointment. "This obviously violates Presidential Decree No. 18/2000, requiring tenders for projects of such a huge value," Darmono added.

Sutoto denied the allegations and said his detention was illogical. "I only knew about the direct appointment of the contractors from the project managers some time after I was installed as the head of the Lampung education office," he claimed.

In the meantime, a number of contractors affiliated with the National Construction Business Association (Gapeknas) have complained about the lack of transparency in the implementation of projects at Sutoto's office.

Last October, the provincial chapter of Gapeknas reported education project irregularities involving Rp 108 billion to the Lampung Police and prosecutors, said Yos Bambang of the local Gapeknas.

Observers have said the contractors appointed to handle education projects in Lampung failed to meet managerial qualifications with many having no experience in dealing with projects and most even named from within the education office.

Independent data shows the total value of the Lampung education projects implemented for the 2001-2002 period without tenders reached around Rp 150 billion.

The lack of transparency sparked widespread suspicions that the money was partly used to help finance the gubernatorial election.