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AKARTA: Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) has demanded the Jakarta administration explain the ownership status of a restored building in Central Jakarta being used as the outlet for 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 Tuesday.

"The administration owes us an explanation over the ownership of this building," Agus said to tempointeraktif.com.

The building was constructed in 1913 during the Dutch colonial period, serving 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, the city administration spent Rp 28 billion (US$2.3 million) to repurchase the old immigration office, and poured an additional Rp 6.1 billion into restoring it by 2005.

The government 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.

The ICW is concerned that there may have been a conflict of interest in the use