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RI diplomats abused state funds: Report
Children’s magazine subscriptions and a luxury bag are just a few of the purchases made by Indonesian diplomats overseas — and paid for by public funds, according to a recent audit
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hildren’s magazine subscriptions and a luxury bag are just a few of the purchases made by Indonesian diplomats overseas — and paid for by public funds, according to a recent audit.
Already given access to first-class facilities financed by the state budget while overseas, Indonesian diplomats have claimed benefits at taxpayer expense.
An audit by the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) of Indonesia’s embassies in Singapore and Rabat, Morocco and its consulate in Frankfurt, Germany, revealed a long list of personal expenses allegedly paid for by state funds.
The audit, a copy of which was obtained by The Jakarta Post, covered the posts’ finances for 2008 and 2009.
The BPK’s random audit of official payment receipts collected by the embassy in Singapore unearthed personal charges for a S$23.95 (US$17.60) tank-top dress, a S$219 Braun Buffel bag and S$47 subscription payments for Bobo and Donald Duck magazines and Nova women’s tabloid — all imported from Indonesia.
“There has been a tendency for technical attachés or home staff [in Singapore] to process all bills as official expenditures without evaluating whether or not some of them were actually for personal expenses,” the report said.
The consulate in Frankfurt spent ¤77,005 ($102,416) to pay the mission’s cellular phone bills while there was no mechanism to ensure the phones were used for official busines only, according to the report.
According to the BPK, paying the phone bills violated several regulations, including a 1983 Foreign Ministry internal decree that requires diplomats to log long distance and international calls.
A 2008 diplomatic cable sent by the Foreign Ministry’s general secretary instructed overseas representative offices to temporarily terminate claims for such bills until it issued a standard operating procedure for cellular phone use.
In Rabat, the BPK said Indonesia’s ambassador to Morocco had spent $25,419 from the embassy’s budget on non-existent “representation activities”.
Diplomat are entitled to representation funds to finance activities related to diplomatic functions, such as dinner receptions and other networking events.
The ambassador could not provide guests lists for dinner receptions he claimed he held, according to the BPK.
The BPK also could not find the ambassador’s name in the guest book of the venues that he claimed held the receptions.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Kusuma Habir confirmed receipt of the BPK’s audit but not of the detailed version detailing the alleged misuse of state finds.
“We are very sure that our employees have not been using the state budget for personal expenses,” she said, adding that overseas
staff received several benefits, including payment of telecommunication expenses.
The take-home pay for Indonesian diplomats ranges from $3,000 and $10,000, excluding benefits.
Critics regard the Foreign Ministry as one the nation’s most corrupt institutions.
In August, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) detained former Indonesian ambassador to the US Sudjadnan Parnohadiningrat after he was named a suspect in a graft case related to the renovation of the Indonesian Embassy in Singapore in 2003. Sudjadnan was at that time the Foreign Ministry secretary-general.
In July, prosecutors named several ministry officials as suspects for allegedly inflating airfare costs for diplomats returning to Jakarta.
Former foreign minister Hassan Wirajuda and current Indonesian ambassador to China Imron Cotan have also been implicated in the case.
