Bibit spoke of the reports during a discussion forum titled “Educational funds prone to corruption”, held by Kaltim Education Watch in Balikpapan on Saturday.

The forum, held at Gedung Nasional was attended by education professionals, NGOs and the public.

The province’s capital city of Samarinda, he said, topped the list with 264 out of 1,254 corruption cases, followed by Kutai Kartanegara (203), Berau (106), Bontang (100) and Paser (95).

Included in the figure, 22 cases were related to education, Bibit said, adding the case in Kutai Kartanegara had been handled by the KPK, while other cases were being probed by the police and the Attorney General’s Office.

“We are closely monitoring the progress of these cases,” Bibit said.

During the dialogue, Bibit also commented on the alleged gratuity payments to a provincial official from Bank Pembangunan Daerah (now bankaltim).

While refusing to go into detail, Bibit said the KPK would not tolerate illegal gratuities.

He said that if the province’s head failed to return the funds within the time frame that had been agreed, the gratuity payments would be categorized as graft.

“It’s wrong for the province’s head to obtain gratuities from money saved in a bank. Where did the money saved in the bank come from? Was it from personal or administrative funds?

“If it was the administration’s, the KPK will admonish a return of it to the administration. We will discuss this with Bank Indonesia and the home minister,” Bibit said.

Together with KPK deputy chairman Chandra Hamzah, Bibit, a former East Kalimantan Police chief, was implicated in a political scandal in late 2009.

Bibit and Chandra were named as suspects in an alleged abuse of power, bribery and extortion case related to their handling of a graft investigation involving fugitive Anggoro Widjojo, president director of telecommunications firm PT Masaro Radiokom.

However, following a national outcry, they have since been cleared and reinstated to their positions.

Looking back on his previous position as East Kalimantan Police chief, Bibit said he himself was nearly involved in an illegal gratuity case when he was offered a car by East Kalimantan former governor H.M Ardans.

“I was notified there was a Terrano sent from the [former] governor to the police chief. I queried Pak Ardans about where the money to buy the car had come from,” he said.

Bibit asked people to safeguard their respective regions against corruption.

“People’s participation is needed to prevent corruption for the sake of the nation,” he said.

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