Three of Mega's donations from the same source
Three of Mega's donations from the same source
Suherdjoko and M. Taufiqurrahman, Semarang/Jakarta
Central Java's Semarang General Elections Supervisory Committee
(Panwaslu) discovered on Tuesday that three related companies had
contributed to the Megawati Soekarnoputri-Hasyim Muzadi campaign
fund.
The three firms, PT Matahari Jaya Makmur, PT Matahari
Silverindo Jaya and PT Mega Mulya Keramic, which are all owned or
partly owned by Budiono, were found to have donated Rp 750
million (US$83,333) each to the Megawati-Hasyim campaign fund.
Panwaslu embarked on the investigation after receiving reports
from Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) and Transparency
International (TI) Indonesia that the Megawati-Hasyim campaign
team received donations from a number of sources with dubious
identities.
"The three companies are related as they are owned or partly
owned by Budiono. He is the executive director of PT Matahari
Jaya Makmur and PT Matahari Silverindo Jaya while at the same
time he owns shares in PT Mega Mulya Keramik," said Panwaslu
member Husni Thamrin.
The three companies, however, are not fictitious as TI
Indonesia and ICW alleged, and managed to produce receipts of
money transferred to the Megawati-Hasyim campaign fund account,
tax numbers (NPWP) and other documents proving that the companies
are legal entities.
Suspicion surfaced because the Megawati campaign team failed
to disclose the identities of the three companies in its
financial report to the General Elections Commission (KPU).
During six hours of questioning on Tuesday, staffers from the
companies acknowledged that their firms donated Rp 750 million
each to the Megawati-Hasyim campaign fund.
"I was instructed by the PT Mega Mulya Keramik executive
director to record the Rp 750 million Bank Mandiri transfer,"
said company operational manager Sugiyatiningsih.
An executive from PT Matahari Silverindo Jaya Tandiono said
that the donation was decided upon in a meeting of the company's
board of directors.
Panwaslu has yet to announce whether it will investigate the
case further.
The Presidential Election Law states that candidates can be
disqualified if proven to have accepted funds from sources with
unclear identities, from foreign institutions or donations from
the government and government-related sources but fail to report
them to the KPU within 14 days.
The law also stipulates that the maximum amounts of donation
for presidential candidates are Rp 750 million from a private
company and Rp 100 million from an individual.
Separately, after protracted deliberations with the KPU, the
House of Representatives budgetary committee agreed to disburse
Rp 62.9 billion (US$6.9 million) in bridging funds to help the
commission organize the Sept. 20 election runoff.
Speaking after a meeting with the committee, KPU deputy
chairman Ramlan Surbakti said that the shoestring budget had been
approved and would soon be disbursed from the state treasury to
help the commission procure poll equipment for the runoff.
"The bridging fund will be disbursed, although the budgetary
committee has yet to approve the KPU's proposal for a total of Rp
419 billion in additional funds for the second round of the
election. We badly need the bridging fund because preparations
for the runoff must go on," Ramlan said.
From the bridging fund, the KPU will allot Rp 10 billion to
pay for the printing of ballot papers, Rp 5.6 billion to procure
various forms for poll organizers, Rp 7 billion to distribute
ballot papers and other printed materials and Rp 6.9 billion for
additional operational fees.