Prosecutors to summon former Lampung governor over graft

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.