US$20b plundered, legislators urge strict punishment

US$20b plundered, legislators urge strict punishment

Debbie A. Lubis
The Jakarta Post
Jakarta

Legislators have urged the government mete out strict
punishment against errant officials over the misuse of Rp 20
trillion (US$20 billion) state funds in three government
institutions.

Commission chairman P.L. Tobing said during a hearing with
representatives of the National Family Planning Board (BKKBN),
the Food and Drug Agency (POM), and the Ministry of Health on
Monday that the offenders should receive both administrative and
legal sanctions.

The misuse of funds was unveiled by the Supreme Audit Agency
(BPK) and was committed during the 2000/2001 financial year.

Tobing, who heads the House of Representatives' Commission VII
on population and welfare, said the punitive sanctions should
vary from postponing their promotion to discharging them from
their position, or escorting them to the court.

"It will depend on how serious the violation they committed
was. We just want to make sure that this incident will not happen
again in the future," Tobing said.

Meanwhile, Tibrani Basri, a member of the commission, said
that the three institutions must clean themselves up before
asking legislators to help them propose their budget for next
year.

Senior officials of the three institutions said they needed
time to mete out the punishment to the errant officials, as they
only received the audit reports last month.

POM chairman Sampoerno said his office would check all the
documents to look for evidence of the misused funds before
imposing strict measures.

"We have fired some errant officials in the provinces and we
have retrieved some of the misused funds," BKKBN chairwoman
Yaumil C. Agus Achir said.

Secretary-general of the Ministry of Health Kuswartini M.
Suhel said the ministry had issued warnings to project heads and
would update them every three months.