House presses ahead with suspect project without scrutiny

After failing to initiate a project to construct a new building worth more than Rp 800 billion last year, the House of Representatives has reassigned money from the building budget to fund a number of new projects and programs, instead of returning it to the state coffers.

In documents leaked to the media on Friday, the decision to reallocate the budget for the suspended construction project was made in a plenary session of the House’s Household Affairs Committee (BURT) with its Secretariat General in Kopo, Bogor, on July 22, 2011.

Details from the meeting revealed that lawmaker Pius Lustrilanang of the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra), who chaired the plenary session, BURT and Secretary-General Nining Indra Saleh agreed to reassign the budget and add to it an additional Rp 218 billion from the 2011 state budget surplus (APBNP).

Of the Rp 1.1 trillion fund, Rp 193.9 billion was earmarked for financing several development projects, including a Rp 20.3 billion project to renovate BURT’s luxurious meeting room, Rp 2 billion to renovate the House’s toilets, Rp 3.7 billion to buy new employee clock in devices,
Rp 23.5 billion for a legislation empowerment program and Rp 5.8 billion for a public relations program.

BURT also earmarked Rp 282.2 billion to finance a program to held 560 lawmakers speak to their constituencies in 2011 and 2012, and to procure photocopy machines and a Toyota Camry sedan. Rp 6.4 billion was also earmarked for a new sports facility in the lawmakers housing complex in Kalibata, South Jakarta.

The documents also stipulate the allocation of Rp 247 billion to finance a number of other unspecified programs.

House Speaker Marzuki Alie, who also chairs BURT, confirmed that the plenary session did take place but he did not attend it and that the meeting was chaired by Pius, the deputy chairman of BURT.

He also said that he signed all proposals for the project. “But I had no time to check one by one all documents that I have to sign. The Secretariat General should remind me before I put my signature,” he said.

Marzuki held a meeting with the KPK leaders to assure them that no foul play was involved in some of the House’s controversial projects.

He declined to comment on why the House had not returned the funds for the aborted projects to the Finance Ministry.

The dubious projects came to light after the media and House watchdogs questioned the ballooning budget of the House’s budget committee.

For the meeting room, the House Secretariat General procured a modern sound system and 150 German-made chairs at a price of Rp 24 million per unit. The chairs are available on the local market for Rp 9.1 million each.

Secretary-general Nining Indrasaleh declined to take responsibility for allocating the budget for the project.

“We have to execute what has been decided by BURT,” she said.

Nining said that some of the money for the project was taken from the 2011 revised state budget without approval from the House speaker.

BURT chairman Melchias Mekening blamed the secretariat-general for the lavish spending.

He said that the budget committee had in fact only asked the House’s Secretariat General to fix the sound system and replace some broken chairs.

Fahri Hamzah, a member of the House’s Ethics Council (BK), said that the council had issued a recommendation to disband BURT.

“It is strange that the House speaker has also functioned as a procurement manager,” he said, adding that the law that stipulated that the House speaker serve as BURT chairman should be amended.