PT KAI admits corruption
PT KAI admits corruption
Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung, West Java
State railway operator PT Kereta Api Indonesia (PT KAI) has
accepted the irregularities identified by the Supreme Audit
Agency (BPK) in the company but stopped short of launching an
investigation into the graft.
Patria Supriyoso, a spokesman for PT KAI, confirmed here on
Tuesday that the company had admitted that a number of
irregularities had occurred in the company in 2001 and 2002.
He conceded that company management had transferred a number
of mid-ranking officials but admitted that no investigations had
been carried out.
"The management has not done so thus far. The BPK has handed
over to us its findings and we have responded to them. That is
enough. We have revealed all and have nothing left to disclose,"
he told a press conference here on Tuesday.
The audit agency announced in March that it had found that a
number of irregularities had occurred in 2001 and 2002 in the
company, causing Rp 20 billion (US$2.2 million) in losses to the
state.
The irregularities included the purchase of spare parts and
150 train speedometers causing Rp 8.8 billion in losses to the
state. Of the 150 speedometers, 110 did not work and the
remaining 40 were in a poor condition.
The company also lost Rp 2.2 billion from the purchase of
spare parts for diesel trains from a sole distributor whose
appointment as supplier was not based on a feasibility study.
Patria said a number of mid-ranking officials had been
transferred, but he declined to give details of the transfers.
"We have shut down the logistics department where several of
the irregularities took place," he said.
He also declined to answer when asked why Edi Sasongko, the
former chief of the logistics department, had been given a new
job as the chief of the property management department.
Patria also rejected reporters' requests for copies of the
company's response to the BPK, saying that the matters dealt with
in the official response were confidential and could not be
disclosed to the press.
Patria said that management had pledged to shake up the state
company so as to make it more efficient, and to take action
against corruption and collusion in the future.
In another blow to the railway station, the World Bank said it
would terminate its KAI loan program and cancel the disbursement
of unused funds because of unsatisfactory efforts to reform the
ailing state enterprise, sources said on Tuesday.
"The World Bank has several times assessed the Indonesian
government and PT KAI's performance as 'unsatisfactory'.
Consequently it will terminate its loan program in September this
year," said Taufik Hidayat, the executive director of the
Indonesian Railway Watch (IRW) on Monday as quoted by Antara.
The World Bank's Railway Efficiency Project was initiated in
January 1997 and amounted to US$85 million. It was aimed at
turning KAI into a more efficient company while better serving
the public as well as reduce its dependence on state subsidies.