Team formed to probe councillors' foreign trip

Team formed to probe councillors' foreign trip

JAKARTA (JP): The City Prosecutors Office has formed a team to
investigate the Rp 4 billion (US$425,500) fund from the Ancol
leisure complex developer which had been used to finance a trip
for six councillors and 11 city officials to Cape Town in South
Africa.

"Assistance for Intelligence Unit to Jakarta Prosecutor Office
Teuku Dasril lead the team and will finish the investigation
within 30-days. After that we will start to summon some of the
officials for the case," chief of the office, Fachri Nasution
told journalists on Thursday.

If the results of the internal probe indicate corruption, his
office would ask the permission of the Ministry of Home Affairs
and Regional Autonomy to summon the councillors, he said.

He was referring to Law No.4/1999 on composition and position
of the legislative body, which stipulates that permission is
required from the minister of home affairs to summon councillors
in such a legal procedure.

"We will do that if the case turns out to be a corruption
case. We'll wait and see over the next 30 days," he said,

During the investigation, he added, the team members will
question every city official related to the case as quickly as
possible.

PT Pembangunan Jaya Ancol, the developer of Ancol, reportedly
financed the overseas trips of six councillors from Commission D
on Development Affairs last month, although the city budget had
allocated some Rp 13 billion for such official trips for the
councillors.

The case came under the spotlight of the local media in the
past few weeks, forcing both Governor Sutiyoso and City Council
Speaker Edy Waluyo to summon PT Pembangunan Jaya Ancol board of
directors for clarification over the case.

According to the tentative schedule, executives of the
developer should have met with councillors from Commission B on
Economic Affairs on Thursday.

But Edy abruptly postponed the hearing for an indefinite
period.

The company had reportedly admitted earlier to having financed
the overseas trips of 45 people, including 14 councillors, to
Australia, Japan and South Africa to study city waterfront
projects, as the company may construct a similar project in the
Ancol area of North Jakarta within five to 10 years.

However, the company's president director Rushadi said later
that the expenditure was only US$240,000 and they were going to
share the cost with PT Pelindo II, which manages the Tanjung
Priok international seaport.

Pelindo II Spokesman Sujarwo told journalists on Thursday that
the company has yet to pay its share but basically agreed to do
so.

PT Pembangunan Jaya Ancol is part of the PT Pembangunan Jaya
chain, of which more than 80 percent shares are owned by the city
administration. Sutiyoso is the chief commissioner of PT
Pembangunan Jaya. Tycoon Ciputra owns the rest of the company's
shares.

City Development Planning Board Chief Bambang Sungkono, who
joined the trip and allegedly received some US$10,000 from PT
Pembangunan Jaya Ancol, admitted that he proposed the trip and
knew about the joint financing.

"But back then the councillors did not argue, so why do they
have to mention my name now?," Bambang said.

According to Commission D Chairman Sayogo Hendrosubroto, the
council budget was not adequate to finance the South Africa trip
while at the same time both Ancol and the city administration
pushed them to go.

"Ancol executives and Bambang urged us to go. Due to the lack
of funds, we let them pay for the rest of the expenses because we
could only afford to give some Rp 52 million per person per
trip," Sayogo explained. (dja)