Lawmakers Accused Of 'selling' Tsunami Relief Aid

[The_Moog]

Lawmakers accused of 'selling' relief aid

Tony Hotland, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Anton (not his real name) tagged along with his superior, a high-ranking local government official, to meet a House of Representatives member. Their mission: to try steal budgeted funds meant for disaster recovery.

At the meeting, the official and the legislator discussed sums of up to Rp 20 billion (US$1.95 million), with the budget increasing another 10 percent if the official agreed to later share half of the aid with the legislator.

A broker had arranged the discussion -- someone with close links to regents and mayors. Anton could not specify his fee.

He spoke on condition of anonymity to The Jakarta Post during the weekend, telling of how he had witnessed the alleged plans for embezzlement. The names of the parties or the outcome of the negotiations have not been revealed. Anton, meanwhile, has promised to work undercover for the House to detect other politicians trying to steal money.

His testimony follows a move last week by legislator M. Darus Agap, of House Commission V on public works and rural development, to publicize a document he had discovered naming House members, which it said were allegedly "selling" Rp 609 billion in state funds to the local administrations of 174 disaster-struck areas.

Darus accused the legislators of corruption and called on House leaders to take legal action to stamp out the practice.

A number of non-House members were named as the "keepers" of the funds detailed in the document. None of their names can be released for legal reasons.

Another similar document was sent late last week to leaders of House factions and bodies.

It contains a table of draft of 2005 disaster mitigation funds data worth Rp 2.03 trillion -- more than Rp 930 billion more than the proposals from the Ministry of Public Works, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Social Affairs and Ministry of Religious Affairs.

Written in the "details" column on the table are names of who allegedly have a "coordinating" role in the disbursement of the funds for each area.

Most of them are identified as budgetary committee members, while others seem to be outsiders.

The House members listed come from the Golkar Party, Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), National Mandate Party (PAN), the National Awakening Party (PKB), Star Reform Party (PBR) and Star Crescent Party (PBB).

A source told the Post House members usually made deals about the amount and disbursement of the funds with officials from their, which were "easier to arrange".

House disciplinary council chairman Slamet Effendi Yusuf confirmed he had received copies of both documents and vowed to look into the accusations detailed. However, Slamet said he would do nothing until he received an official report from the House leadership or a public complaint.

Slamet said rumors about such practices were common but obtaining solid evidence remained a stumbling block for investigations.

However, the system was open to abuse, Slamet said, because members of the budgetary committee were lawmakers who could propose state budget revisions and give the go-ahead for disbursements.

"The bizarre thing is the so-called guarding and coordinating task of House members. Even if we think positively that they're simply monitoring, this should not be their duty but that of the House Commission V," he said.

He called on anyone who had been offered bribes or embezzlement opportunities by House legislators to come forward.

"The disbursement of funds to reconstruct disaster-struck areas is indeed difficult to monitor. (Legislators) can claim they has disbursed some millions of rupiah, but often the impact is barely visible. Of course this is because the fund has been stolen in many places, thus leaving little for the truly needy," Slamet said.