Irregularities reported in campaign funds

The Elections Supervisory Body (Bawaslu) discovered an irregularity in one of the campaign funds that went to a presidential pair after it began investigations Tuesday.

“We suspect that a company that donated Rp 5 billion [US$490,000] to one of the candidates might be fictitious,” Bambang Eka Cahya Widodo, a Bawaslu member, said Wednesday.

He refused to name the company or the candidate that received the donation until more evidence had been gathered.

“How could a company that has only two computers donate Rp 5 billion?” Bambang said.

He said illegal accounts were the most common way to donate large sums of money to candidates.

“Illegal accounts are hard to trace. We have gathered information about mysterious groups, outwith the campaign team structure, working for and donating to candidates,” he said. (fmb)