Nivell Rayda& Ismira Lutfia, Jakarta Globe 15 Feb 10;
Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa on Monday issued an all-out defense against accusations that a number of senior ministry officials, including the man he recently replaced, were allegedly involved in a corruption scam involving inflated travel expenses.
The country’s most prominent antigraft watchdog, Indonesia Corruption Watch, had reported to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) that former Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda and current ministry Secretary General Imron Cotan received Rp 1 billion and Rp 2.35 billion ($107,000 and $251,000), respectively, in the graft scheme. The Attorney General’s Office and the KPK are investigating the allegations.
Marty, although admitting to graft within the ministry, claimed that Wirajuda and Imron were named by low-ranking officials to cover their trail. “There are people who abused [high-ranking] ministry officials’ names,” Marty said.
“We have severely sanctioned those who were involved. We have also imposed new methods and taken steps to prevent similar scams from ever occurring again.”
Marty, however, declined to reveal how many ministry officials had been punished.
ICW deputy chairman Emerson Yuntho immediately blasted the ministry’s response, saying its decision to dismiss officials was meant to protect the higher-ups who were involved.
“The case has been handled as though it was merely a case of poor administration,” Emerson said. “This is purely criminal and violated the law on corruption because the state has been defrauded for years.”
Emerson also criticized the speed with which the minister had dismissed the possibility that senior officials might have been involved.
“There was never any internal inquiry against NHW,” he said, referring to Wirajuda by his initials. “How could the ministry come to the a conclusion that he was not involved?” he asked.
Neither Wirajuda nor Imron, a former ambassador to Australia, could be reached for comment on Monday night.
The ministry has launched an internal investigation into the scam, which cost the state an estimated Rp 30 billion per year.
Several ministry officials allegedly collaborated with seven travel agencies appointed by the ministry to inflate the total travel budget by as much as 80 percent.
The majority of the budget mark-up stemmed from diplomats assigned overseas. Foreign service employees have the option of buying their tickets first at approved travel agencies and then applying for reimbursement.
The travel agencies charged the diplomats the true price, but then billed the ministry far above the regular fare or made it appear that more expensive airlines or classes were used. In return, some of the illicit profit was kicked back to the diplomats. The ministry also discovered fictitious travel tickets.
Ministry officials were also accused of inflating the size of the claims the ministry made to the treasury. The ministry’s findings have been submitted to the AGO.
KPK spokesman Johan Budi said it would coordinate with the AGO to avoid any overlaps in their probes. “We will monitor the AGO’s progress.”
