Red tape slows down graft probe
Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
It appears that an investigation into alleged graft in the production of bird flu vaccine last year will not start anytime soon due to bureaucratic hurdles.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Agriculture is examining vaccine stocks after discovering the massive graft case which could affect the quality of the vaccines produced.
The ministry's Director of Animal Health Syamsul Bahri said his office would run tests on the vaccines currently in stock and circulation to determine whether they met the minimum specifications.
"Our laboratory capacity is limited so we will gradually test samples and decide which vaccines can continue to be used and which will have to be withdrawn from circulation," Bahri was quoted as saying by AFP.
The ministry's Inspector General Zainal Baharuddin had said that the vaccines, produced by PT Vaksindo, PT Medion and government-owned firms Pusvetma and Balitvet, had a low protection level of between 11.8 percent and 28 percent.
He said he suspected that senior ministry officials, working together with the four pharmaceutical companies, had inflated the cost of vaccine production to increase their profits.
Zainal estimated that the scam could inflict total losses of up to Rp 56.98 billion (US$5.7 million) on the taxpayer, adding that he had submitted the case files last Friday to the Attorney General's Office (AGO) along with those on eight other cases of corruption, which are believed to have caused around Rp 733 billion in state losses.
However, it could be some time before a probe is launched into the alleged graft cases, including the bird flu vaccine scam, due to lengthy bureaucratic procedures.
AGO spokesman Masyhudi Ridwan told The Jakarta Post on Monday the investigators could only begin working after receiving an order from the Attorney General, to whom the reports had been addressed.
"After the Attorney General studies the cases thoroughly, he will hand over the files to the deputy attorney general for special crimes, who will decide on who will conduct the investigation," Mashyudi said.
The deputy attorney general would then ask a chief investigator to form a team to handle the cases. The team would have to study the cases and ensure there was enough prima facie evidence before launching a probe.
"You see, it's not quite that simple to begin an investigation. So far, we haven't started the probe into the cases involving the agricultural ministry," Masyhudi said.
Deputy Attorney General for Special Crimes Hendarman Supandji said he just started to read the case files.
Apart from the alleged bird flu vaccine scam, the agricultural ministry team also reported corruption in the payment of compensation to poultry farmers who had culled their flocks to prevent the virus from spreading.