Seek 'em here, seek 'em there, fictitious donors everywhere

Seek 'em here, seek 'em there, fictitious donors everywhere

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta

Corruption watchdog Transparency International (TI) Indonesia
alleged on Tuesday that both the Megawati-Hasyim and the Susilo-
Kalla campaigns had claimed to have received donations from what
appeared to be either non-existent or dubious sources.

The Presidential Elections Law states that candidates may be
disqualified if they are proved to have accepted funds from
sources whose identities are unclear, apart from funds from
foreign institutions, and government and government-related
sources -- and if they fail to report these sources to the
General Elections Commission within 14 days.

However, the two remaining presidential candidates and their
running mates have denied the allegations.

TI Indonesia said its investigation, which was conducted in
collaboration with Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW), discovered
that 15 individual and corporate donors to the Susilo-Kalla
campaign, whose contributions totaled Rp 3.5 billion, were all
"fictitious".

The investigation team failed to find any evidence of the
existence of the Palu, Central Sulawesi-based, PT Bunga Cengkeh
Abadi, which is said to have contributed Rp 200 million to the
Susilo-Kalla campaign, or of PT Megah Pratama Murni, which it is
claimed gave Rp 50 million.

"Locals living near the addresses that were given for the two
companies had never heard of them and PT Telkom (state-owned
telecoms utility) has no subscribers listed at those addresses,"
the report said.

An individual donor who was listed as having contributed Rp 10
million was named as M. Anshar of Jl. Wahidin 28, Palu, but the
current occupants of this address said they had never heard of
him.

Regarding donors to the Megawati-Hasyim campaign, TI Indonesia
questioned the financial capabilities of some of the listed
donors to contribute large amounts of cash.

TI Indonesia claimed that there were 30 such "dubious"
sources.

"We discovered that one listed donor, Imam S., a supporter of
the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), lives in a
shabby, dilapidated house. It is very unlikely that he could have
contributed Rp 75 million," the report said.

Another donor, Siwi Lestari, 20, was quoted as having admitted
to the TI Indonesia team that she had never contributed the Rp
100 million that the Megawati-Hasyim campaign team claimed she
had. "Her parents are indeed staunch supporters of the PDI-P,"
the report said, but the condition of their house led the
researchers to believe that it was highly unlikely that they
could have donated such a large sum.

The report also discovered that a number of companies on the
list of donors, which were reported to have donated a total of Rp
11 billion, had ceased to exist long before they were stated as
having made donations.

Ahsan Jamet Hamidi of TI Indonesia demanded that all the money
received from dubious sources be forfeit to the treasury. He also
said the KPU should put the two tickets' candidacies in the
runoff on hold pending clarification of their funding sources.

Hasyim denied the allegations and said he was ready to pay the
price if he were found guilty, the detik.com newsportal reported
Tuesday.

Kalla had earlier responded to the report, saying that he was
more than willing to reveal all his ticket's funding sources.