Sutiyoso denies officials involved in garbage graft

Sutiyoso denies officials involved in garbage graft

JAKARTA: Governor Sutiyoso agreed on Thursday to the
establishment of a special team to investigate alleged corruption
at the City Sanitary Agency, as proposed by the City Council a
day earlier.

"Please do so if necessary. But I don't see any indication of
the crime," he told reporters.

He denied that the dismissals of the agency's head Saksono
Soehodo and deputy head Soegiono were linked to corruption.
Sutiyoso said they were dismissed due to their incompetence in
carrying out their duties.

Saksono and Soegiono were expelled from their posts several
days after the Bekasi mayoralty closed down the Bantar Gebang
dump site, a move that caused panic within the administration as
untransported garbage piled up throughout Jakarta.

The closure of the dump site incidentally exposed an alleged
irregularity in the sanitary agency's finances. Ali Imron
Hussein, the deputy chairman of the City Council's commission D
on development affairs, suggested that the city inspectorate
investigate the case.

He revealed that the agency had failed to report billions of
rupiahs worth of expenditure to the Council. This year the agency
received Rp 90 billion to manage the city's garbage while next
year, Ali said, it would receive Rp 220 billion.--JP