WB sets up team to address corruption in RI

WB sets up team to address corruption in RI

JAKARTA (JP): The World Bank has set up two teams of experts
consisting of its own staff and independent consultants to clean
up corruption in Indonesia, especially that involving the bank's
funds.

World Bank country director for Indonesia Dennis de Tray said
on Tuesday the teams were scheduled to come here this week and
next week to help the Indonesian government shape new strategies
to reduce corruption.

"There's no question that the World Bank has made mistakes in
the past in its efforts to ensure that the projects were well
managed, but we want to set the past behind us and make sure that
few mistakes are made in the future," he told reporters.

The first team from Washington, headed by the bank's regional
manager of its social development sector unit Katherine Marshall,
is already here to start inquiring into the issue of corruption
in the country.

Staffed with experts on corruption issues, including Robert
Klitgaard, the team is scheduled to meet with various groups here
such as promoters of a civil society, corruption watch
organizations, and other non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

"We'd like to have a much better understanding of what's
actually happening, how the government is addressing these
issues, how they are seen by different parts of Indonesian
society," Marshall said here on Tuesday.

She expected the team to be able to define the corruption
problems in the country by the end of the week, and be ready to
propose subsequent steps to reduce graft over the next six to 12-
month period.

"We will be discussing with the government and others what
kind of milestones we would expect to see a long way off if it
were successful and what kind of specific actions and assistance
we might bring," she said.

The issues would likely involve law, ethical standards, and
rules and procedures, she said.

The bank is also bringing in its regional manager of central
operational service units, Jane Loos, to help improve the
management of its portfolio in the country.

The sweeping move to tackle corruption comes a month after the
Asian Wall Street Journal published details of a World Bank
internal memorandum which disclosed that more than 20 percent of
the bank's loans were believed to have been siphoned off by
Indonesian officials.

De Tray said on Tuesday the bank regarded the note as
presenting a broadly accurate description of problems that
existed, but insisted that the specific numbers cited in the memo
was merely "anecdotal and indicative".

"If we have had hard evidence to prove corruption in our
projects, we have acted upon that evidence," he said, but did not
deny that "corruption in Indonesia is endemic, deep-seated and
widespread."

At the same meeting Coordinating Minister for Development
Supervision and State Administrative Reform Hartarto
Sastrosoenarto encouraged all elements in society to help the
government root out graft by providing any evidence they had of
its existence.

"The government will protect those who come forward to report
corruption cases against retribution," he said, adding that it
would also protect the rights of those accused.

"In the past, many individuals have hesitated to come forward
with accusations because of fear of reprisals and private
businesses feared losing government contracts," he added.

But economist Rizal Ramli of the Econit Advisory Group charged
that the World Bank's team lacked the necessary independence to
investigate corruption.

"It is naive to expect an internal team to investigate
corruption cases in a transparent and objective manners," Rizal
said on Tuesday.

He reiterated the need to set up an independent team to probe
corruption cases and to follow up on them.

Rizal and other economists have reproached the World Bank for
failing to publicize the rampant graft practices committed by the
country's officials in the spending of its loan funds despite
being fully aware of them.

Early this month, the government reviewed and severed many
business contracts signed by its agencies and enterprises with
the families and associates of former president Soeharto, as part
of the campaign to eliminate corruption, collusion and nepotism
in the bureaucracy.

State-owned PT Pelabuhan Indonesian announced on Tuesday it
had canceled 13 projects and planned to review several others
linked to companies headed by Soeharto's family and associates.
(das)