Vehicle maintenance losses jump to Rp 16b

Vehicle maintenance losses jump to Rp 16b

JAKARTA (JP): The loss of funds allocated by the city for the
maintenance of official vehicles in the first eight months of
this fiscal year jumped from an estimated Rp 2 billion
(US$266,666) to about Rp 16 billion, an official at the city
supplies office said on Wednesday.

The official, who asked not to be named, said that the figure
of Rp 2 billion was registered only from the regional
secretariat, one of the 38 offices and units under the
supervision of the city administration.

The total allocation for all of the city's official vehicles
was Rp 37.41 billion, not Rp 4.82 billion as reported previously,
he said.

According to data from the supplies office, the real number of
official vehicles included in the routine expenditure was only
3,873, far below the figure of 6,797 that was reported for the
budget calculation.

Governor Sutiyoso said on Tuesday that he had instructed the
city inspectorate office and the city reform team to thoroughly
investigate the case.

"If there is evidence that there are people who intentionally
marked up the number of vehicles, I will take punitive actions
against them, either administratively or financially," he said.

He said that if the errant officials had used the money for
personal purposes he would confiscate their belongings as
punishment.

Head of the city reform team Abdul Kahfi and city secretary
Fauzi Bowo said that they had known about the case for a long
time, but refused to elaborate.

"There are indications (about the practice of marking up the
number of vehicles). We have investigated the case for a long
time, but we still cannot announce our findings, in order to
preserve the principle of the presumption of innocence," Kahfi
said.

Fauzi said that the administration was still collecting data
on the case.

The head of the City Council's Commission C for Financial
Affairs Amarullah Asbah said that the problem was caused mainly
by the administration's lack of control and supervision.

He strongly criticized the administration for allowing such a
malfeasance to occur when the city was facing budget
difficulties.

"The practice of marking up the number of vehicles is so
ironic because Governor Sutiyoso has many times encouraged all
city units to become more thrifty during the economic
difficulties," he said.

Amarullah demanded that Sutiyoso recalculate the city budget
after uncovering this vehicle scheme.

He said that the recalculation should be done as soon as
possible to enable the administration to trace the missing funds.

"If the malfeasance can be found soon, the funds can
immediately be allocated to other posts which badly need
attention, like those dealing with social and economic problems,"
he said. (ida)