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.