Stop illegal levies

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)