Govt funds available for new KPK office but House can still block plan

Finance Minister Agus Martowardojo said on Thursday the government had prepared around Rp 60 billion to Rp80 billion (around US$6.4 million to $8.5 million) to fund the Corruption Eradication Commission’s (KPK) new building.

The government, he said, had allocated the funding in the 2012 state budget and had planned for the project to be carried out on a 27,600-square-meter plot of land over several years, with total funding amounting to Rp 225 billion.

However, Agus said, the financial plan was still marked with an asterisk, meaning it would still need further approval from lawmakers to disburse the money.

“The House of Representatives’ Commission III overseeing legal affairs should approve the budget so we can disburse the money,” Agus said as quoted by kompas.com.

He said an asterisk mark on a state budget plan meant that the House had yet to approve it in the absence of terms of reference for the funding plan, the absence of other necessary documents or the absence of plans on how the funds would be spent.

The minister suggested the commission executives resume their deliberations with the lawmakers on the financial plan.

Lawmakers earlier said the commission needed new premises because its existing one was running over capacity, with its employees forced to work at separate government office buildings.

The commission currently leases its present office building on Jl. HR Rasuna Said in South Jakarta.

However, lawmakers declined to approve the budget because they said they needed further explanations from the commission.

The rejection triggered KPK deputy chairman Bambang Widjojanto to ask for public support for the project instead, which he has gained from several elements of society, particularly antigraft activists. (asa/mtq)