Sutiyoso defends capital as one of many corrupt cities
Sutiyoso defends capital as one of many corrupt cities
JAKARTA (JP): Governor Sutiyoso said on Wednesday corruption
"was a commonplace activity in the country" and that the Ministry
of Home Affairs' revelation of Jakarta's substantial involvement
in Rp 2.6 trillion of graft cases reported nationwide was not
surprising.
"Corruption doesn't just occur in the capital. It's logical if
Jakarta ranked first in the irregularities, because it has a
greater number of projects compared to other provinces," Sutiyoso
said.
The governor, an active three-star military general, said he
was ready to go to the ministry if he was summoned for
questioning in relation to the cases.
"But as of today (Wednesday) I had not received a summons," he
said after receiving a US$200,000 donation from the government of
Kuwait through its embassy here. The gift is earmarked for the
renovation of the Istiqlal Grand Mosque, which was partly damaged
by a bomb blast in April.
Later in the afternoon, acting head of the city inspectorate
office Syarifudin Mahfud hastily called a media conference, in
which he suggested the embezzlement of state funds by city
administration employees could be larger than disclosed by the
ministry.
"What was revealed were only the findings of the ministry's
inspectorate general office.
"There are two more institutions, the city inspectorate office
and the development finance controller, which supervise the city
finances. If the two reveal their findings as well, the total
amount could be much, much higher," he said.
Syarifudin, however, refused to disclose figures traced by his
office.
He did not explain why he aired the allegations against city
administration officials only after the ministry's public
disclosure of the graft.
On Tuesday, the Ministry of Home Affairs announced the
government suffered corruption losses of Rp 2.6 trillion
nationwide.
The ministry disclosed that Jakarta topped the list with Rp
115 billion, followed by East Java with Rp 95 billion, and West
Java third with Rp 38 billion.
Spatial agency
Of 15 city agencies and offices inspected by the ministry's
inspectorate general since last year, Syarifudin said the biggest
corruption cases in the administration -- totaling some Rp 110
billion -- occurred at the city spatial agency.
"Another Rp 5 billion was found at another 14 agencies and
offices," he said, referring to the central government's account.
He said the corruption-created losses were described as state
losses and an obligation to store money (in the form of a levy)
to the central government.
"In the spatial agency case, for example, some Rp 58 billion
was in the form of a state loss and Rp 57 billion was an
obligation to the government."
Head of the city's spatial agency Ahmadin Ahmad strongly
denied Syarifudin's allegation that officials at his office were
involved in embezzlement of state funds.
"It is not a corruption case, but back debts of land usage
levies from several construction companies," he said.
Ahmadin said 12 construction companies still had Rp 41 billion
owing for land usage levies -- categorized as a financial
obligation to the central government -- to the agency.
He said the companies concerned included the Jakarta Country
Club, PT Pelangi Hardawana and PT Tunggal Alam Raya.
He said a controversial debt owed by the Jakarta Country Club,
which manages the Mulia Senayan Hotel in South Jakarta, totaled
Rp 15.3 billion.
"But so far they have only paid Rp 250 million," Ahmadin said.
PT Pelangi Hardawana had a Rp 5.3 billion debt and PT Tunggal
Alam Raya could not fulfill an obligation to pay a Rp 2.4 billion
levy. The latter company had ceased its projects due to the
crippling economic crisis, he said.
Ahmadin said he did not have any data that supported
allegations that state losses amounting to Rp 58 billion
originated from his office.(ind)