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