Stop illegal levies

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Forestry Djamaludin Suryohadikusumo instructed officials of his ministry and executives of state- owned forestry firms Thursday to stop collecting illegal levies as soon as possible.

"Illegal levies have affected the integrity of the Ministry of Forestry, created high-cost economy and affected the investment climate," he said at the closing ceremony of the ministry's three-day national workshop here.

He explained that the cabinet's coordination meeting on supervision on March 19 discussed public complaints about illegal levies, ranging from small to large sizes.

The high level of illegal levies was caused mainly by the poor implementation of internal supervision in the ministry and the state-owned forestry companies, he said.

"The poor implementation of internal supervision, for example, can be seen from the reluctance of superiors to impose sanctions against their violating subordinates," he said. (10)