Sale of SEA Games stickers to be probe

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Consumer Foundation is to investigate the distributors of stickers sold to raise funds for the 19th SEA Games, held in Jakarta last year, the foundation's vice chairman Agus Pambagio said over the weekend.

The foundation has requested information from all the sticker distributors -- state-owned PT PLN and PT Telkom, the Ministry of Transportation, provincial revenue agencies and PT Angkasa Rona Graha (ARG) -- but the investigation will focus on PT ARG for the time being.

PT ARG was the first company to sell stickers to the public. However, it was later banned from doing so as a result of its mismanagement of the sales, Agus said.

The foundation was unconvinced by accounts of PT ARGs sticker sales in the SEA Games fund raising consortium's revenue report during a meeting Thursday, he said. The consortium had also complained about PT ARGs unclear reporting. PT ARG submitted only Rp 18.75 billion (US$1.98 million) from three months of sticker sales.

The consortium, chaired by President Soeharto's son Bambang Trihatmodjo, suffered a Rp 68.1 billion loss, raising Rp 87.9 billion against outgoing costs of Rp 156 billion.

Klynveld Peat Marwick Goerdeler public accountants are carrying out an audit of the consortium. The consortium has promised to publish the full audit report when it is completed later this month.

"The foundation will investigate the problem while we're all waiting for the auditing process of the consortium's reports," Agus said.

Agus said the foundation will sue the consortium if there is any evidence of fraud.

"It's our commitment to bring the sticker sales cheating to the court. That's why we're investigating the case to avoid accusing the wrong person," he said.

He said the foundation needed to be sure who it would take to court in the event of any wrongdoing coming to light -- either the Minister of Social Services, who instructed the sales, the State Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports, or other parties. (yan)