Budget committee strike violates ethics: House

The House of Representatives' Ethics Council says that the budget committee has breached House statute by threatening to boycott the deliberation of the 2012 state budget.

“If you don’t do your job, you are running away from your responsibilities… This certainly violates the House's ethics code,” Ethics Council chairman Mohammad Prakosa said Friday, as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.

He said that such irresponsibility would only prove detrimental to the House itself.

“If that stance is taken, it would trouble a lot of parties. It could also damage the House’s image and integrity,” he said.

According to Prakosa, the ethics council currently has no grounds to take action as the budget committee’s strike is, at present, merely a plan.

“If there is any indication of a code of ethics violation, we will summon them,” he said.

The budget committee’s boycott followed the inspection of four of its leaders by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) on Wednesday over their suspected involvement in a graft case linked to the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry.