Three ministries unveil graft totaling Rp 4 billion

Three ministries unveil graft totaling Rp 4 billion

JAKARTA (JP): The government announced on Thursday cases of
corruption in three ministries involving nearly Rp 4 billion
(US$597,000) of state funds.

However, with only one ongoing police investigation into the
graft -- an inquiry focusing on an official from the Cooperatives
and Small Enterprises office in Medan -- no other actions have
been taken against the embezzlers.

The announcement followed last week's disclosure, in which
results of the government's nationwide anticorruption drive were
announced. They showed a Rp 7.21 trillion loss resulting from
more than 3,000 graft cases.

State Minister of Agrarian Affairs/chairman of the National
Land Agency (BPN) Hasan Basri Durin unveiled on Thursday 198
cases of corruption and other forms of malfeasance which cost the
government Rp 2.95 billion. He said Rp 1.94 billion of the
embezzled state funds embezzled had been recovered.

Investigations into corruption, collusion and nepotism at the
ministry have led to revocation of 39 land titles for almost four
million hectares.

One of the land titles belonged to PT Tri Polyta Indonesia
owned by Sudwikatmono, a half brother of former president
Soeharto, Hasan said.

He said 47 officials had been dismissed, 35 had their ranks
demoted and 65 were disciplined in connection with the
malfeasance. He failed, however, to disclose if any measures had
been taken in regard to land titles owned by Soeharto and his
family members.

Earlier this year, the land agency launched a nationwide
inventory of land titles owned by the Soeharto family. The
results have yet to be announced.

In another media briefing, Inspector General of the Ministry
of Manpower Martono said an investigation team had found 1,385
cases of corruption between April 1998 and April this year. He
refused to unveil the amount of state funds embezzled, but said
the ministry had managed to recover Rp 428 million.

"No one has been brought to court in connection with the
crimes, because the most important thing is that the state funds
have been recovered," Martono said, adding that disciplinary
action ranging from reprimands to dismissals had been imposed on
91 officials.

He said the ministry opted for internal settlement for cases
of corruption, collusion and nepotism, in part on the advice of
several district prosecutors.

The investigation team excluded an alleged misuse of
obligatory workers' insurance funds invested at state-owned
insurance company PT Jamsostek. Martono said the case had been
taken over by the office of the State Minister of the Empowerment
of State Enterprises.

Separately, Minister of Cooperatives and Small Enterprises Adi
Sasono said incidents of corruption, collusion and nepotism in
his office had, since 1998, cost the government Rp 482.92
million.

Announcing the results of an investigation into malfeasance
practices in his ministry, Adi said the graft accounted for less
than 0.2 percent of the Rp 292 billion allocated in the 1998/1999
state budget for the ministry.

"You're not likely to find corruption in trillions of rupiah
if the ministry's budget is small."

He said the budget for the cooperative movement in Indonesia
was the smallest in Southeast Asian countries.

Inspector General of the ministry Joko Sugiharto said Rp
134.25 million, or 28 percent of the embezzled funds, had been
recovered.

He said the malfeasance included manipulation of traveling
expenses and project expenditure markups.

He said at least one official in North Sumatra had been
referred to the police, while 28 officials had been given
administrative sanctions.

Director General of Financing and Savings and Loans Deswandhy
Agusman said no government social safety net funds channeled by
the ministry had been embezzled.

Deswandhy said the ministry received only Rp 68.56 million of
such funds, all of which were directly channeled to intended
recipients.

Adi was at the center of a controversy last month for alleging
using social safety net funds to help the electoral campaigns of
Golkar and the People's Sovereign Party (PDR).(01/02/05)