Push to recover SEA Games funds to go on: Minister

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Forestry and Plantations Muslimin Nasution said yesterday his ministry would not give up in its efforts to recover Rp 35 billion (US$2.5 million) in forestry funds lent to finance the 19th Southeast Asian Games last year.

Muslimin said he had requested the help of State Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs Agung Laksono in getting the money back.

"I have asked Pak Agung Laksono to urge the consortium to return the funds they used for the sporting event."

Early this week, the 19th SEAG underwriting consortium balked at repaying the reforestation funds.

Its promotion and business deputy, Enggartiasto Lukita, argued that the consortium had not known the actual source of the funds lent from the government for the Games until the secretary- general of the Ministry of Forestry and Plantations, Oetomo, revealed it early this month.

"We didn't know the loan was taken from the reforestation funds. We just knew that the money came from the minister/state secretary," Enggartiasto said.

He contended that the current minister/state secretary had not requested the return of the loan.

Oetomo claimed earlier this month that the consortium owed the Ministry of Forestry and Plantations Rp 35 billion, including interest.

Muslimin said his ministry had also asked the state secretary to urge the consortium to return the money because the order to channel the funds came from the state secretary -- at the time Moerdiono -- through a presidential decree.

He said the funds were transferred to the state secretary who then disbursed the funds to the consortium and other nonforestry projects, such as peat land and poverty alleviation projects.

"That's why it's hard for us to get the money back because officially the loan agreements were between the state secretary and the organizers of the projects."

He added that his ministry would a need presidential decree which demanded the projects' organizers to return the funds if they continued to reject his requests.

"There were no ministerial decrees regulating loans from the reforestation funds and interest. The loans given to projects were based on presidential decrees so it can be returned through presidential decrees."

The consortium, the fund-raising body for the biennial event held in Jakarta last year, reported earlier this year that it suffered a Rp 68.1 billion loss.

The consortium, chaired by former president Soeharto's son Bambang Trihatmodjo, raised a large part of the funds through the sale of stickers to customers of public utilities, airplane passengers and car owners renewing driver's licenses or extending vehicle registration documents.

It collected Rp 87.9 billion but spent Rp 156 billion, far above the estimated budget of Rp 75 billion.

Reforestation funds are collected as mandatory fees imposed by the government on forest concessionaires to ensure that forests are managed in an environmentally sustainable manner. The size of a fee depends on the volume and type of timber felled.

Starting April 1, reforestation funds are accounted for in the state budget as nontax receipts. Previously, the funds were transferred into the Ministry of Forestry's accounts. The allocation and use of the funds were governed by presidential decrees. (gis)