Jakarta Stands by Relentless Drive Against Dirty Officials

City Stands by Relentless Drive Against Dirty Officials

By Lenny Tristia Tambun on 8:45 am October 25, 2013.
Jakarta Deputy Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama has denied that the administration of Governor Joko Widodo is on a witch hunt against officials from the term of the previous governor, amid an antigraft crackdown on senior city bureaucrats. “No, that never crossed our minds, we never had any such thoughts,” Basuki said at City Hall on Thursday. Basuki said it was the various law enforcement agencies that had flagged the alleged corruption by the officials in question, and that the Jakarta administration, especially Joko and himself, never intervened in the investigations.“We leave everything to the authorities,” he said.

“We encourage them to carry out investigations. This will continue to go on.”

I Made Karmayoga, the head of the city agency in charge of human resources management, said all of the graft cases had been reported after the administration had conducted an open recruitment process, and that all the alleged corruption occurred under the watch of the previous governor, Fauzi Bowo.

“It’s true, many reports were filed to the authorities after the open recruitment initiated by Joko,” Karmayoga said.

He added that the officials named as suspects continued to receive 75 percent of their basic salaries because they were still registered as civil servants until convicted by a court, but that they no longer received other allowances, which make up the bulk of bureaucrats’ take-home pay.

“Although they have been named as suspects, they are still civil servants. As such, they still receive their basic salary, but not 100 percent. This will go on until a final verdict is handed down by a court,” Karmayoga said.

The statements came a day after the Attorney General’s Office announced that it had named Raden Suprapto, the head of the South Jakarta Spatial Planning Agency, as a suspect for allegedly taking kickbacks to issue building and development permits.

The AGO earlier this month also named Ridha Bahar, the head of the Central Jakarta Communications and Information Office, a suspect for alleged bid-rigging.

Setia Untung Arimuladi, a spokesman for the AGO, said prosecutors had gathered sufficient evidence to charge Suprapto for being on the take.

“R.S. allegedly levied administrative fees that were not in accordance with the official fees,” he said on Wednesday.

Suprapto is believed to have charged between Rp 225 million and Rp 700 million ($20,250 and $63,000) for every permit application, and is believed to have embezzled a total of Rp 1.89 billion.

Ridha, meanwhile, is alleged to have colluded with a private company to award it the contract to provide CCTV equipment for the National Monument (Monas) park. The case allegedly resulted in Rp 1.7 billion in state losses.

Basuki said the city administration would take strict action against city officials involved in corruption cases.

He added he had instructed municipal office heads to remove managers or staff alleged to be involved in corrupt or unethical practices.

Joko and Basuki have been in office for only a year, and in that time 10 city officials, all holdovers from Fauzi’s term, have been charged in various corruption cases.

In addition to the AGO, other agencies pursuing the dirty officials are the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), district courts, and the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK).

On Sept. 17, Mursalin Muhaiyang, the head of the electricity management bureau in Pulau Seribu district, and Susilo Budi Riyanto, the bureau’s maintenance chief, were arrested on a warrant from the North Jakarta District Court on charges of fraud and embezzlement.

The officials, working under the Jakarta Industry and Energy Agency, allegedly filed false expenditure claims of Rp 1.3 billion for electrical installation maintenance activities in the islands.

Investigators discovered the fraud when they were unable to find evidence of the purported work carried out on Tidung and Kelapa islands. Investigators also allege the pair claimed several fictitious purchases. Generators reported in work records as having been newly installed were found, in fact, to not be functioning.

Investigators’ preliminary findings have only been able to account for Rp 144 million of the funds claimed, based on several generator purchase receipts. The rest of the expenses cannot be accounted for.

In another case, Fanda Fadly Luis and Zaitul Akmam, the head and the treasurer, respectively, of East Jakarta’s Ceger subdistrict, were arrested on Oct. 11.

The two have been named as suspects for fraudulent reports of purchases drawn from the 2012 budget.

The state says it lost approximately Rp 450 million in the case.

Basuki said the administration hoped to implement an e-budgeting system to better monitor and control spending.

He said the measure would help ensure the city’s budget, as approved, was not altered, except by the governor and other authorized individuals.

The deputy governor acknowledged that such a measure was not likely to go down well with members of the City Council, who have balked at most of the reforms initiated by the new governor.

The Indonesian Forum for Budget Transparency (Fitra), a watchdog, said that as much as 40 percent of Jakarta’s annual budget was lost to corrupt city officials, their family members and cronies.

Fitra director Uchok Sky Khadafi said the rampant corruption in the bureaucracy had gone “beyond limit,” with officials no longer afraid to commit corruption to support their lavish lifestyle.

Uchok also blamed the level of graft on the wives of civil servants, who he said often demanded far more money than their husbands could provide through their salaries alone.

He also said there was no sense of accountability or responsibility, with those receiving the stolen money not caring about how it was obtained or that the people who embezzled it could go to jail.

“This is based on private confessions made to me by civil servants and officials,” Uchok said.

“They’re more afraid of incurring the wrath of their wives than of being charged by prosecutors. They do it out of love for their wives, and if they get caught, they consider it as mere bad luck.

‘‘So, it’s little wonder that corruption in Jakarta is so extraordinary,” he added.