Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) has demanded Jakarta administration explain the ownership status of a
restored old building in Central Jakarta being
used as an outlet of the French Buddha-Bar franchise.
The corruption watchdog suspects the ownership of the building was transferred
from the government to a private party, Agus Sunaryanto of ICW said on Tuesday.
"The administration owes us an explanation over the ownership of this building,"
Agus said as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.
The building, built in 1913 during the Dutch colonial period, served as the Dutch-Indies
Art center (Nederlandsch-Indische Kunstkring) before it was taken by the
Indonesian government to be used as the Central Jakarta Immigration office, in
1945.
In 2002, Jakarta
administration spent Rp 28 billion (US$2.3 million in today's currency) to
repurchase the old immigration office, and had poured an additional Rp 6.1
billion into restoring it in 2005.
The government had then formed a working agreement with PT Niresta Vista
Creative, which later bought the French franchise, to manage the building, Agus
said.
The building is now used for a club run by the daughter of former
Jakarta
governor Sutiyoso who had initially approved its purchase and renovation.
ICW is concerned that there may have been a conflict of interest in the use of
the building, Agus said. (dre)
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