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.