T

he Attorney General'€™s Office (AGO) has named three former West Jakarta Water Management Subagency heads suspects in graft case surrounding the 2013 budget.

AGO spokesman Tony Spontana revealed that based on the office'€™s investigations the three suspects, identified as MR, W and P, may have been involved in misusing funds allocated for a number of programs in the subagency.

'€œThe three officials, MR, W and P, have been named as suspects. The AGO has found sufficient evidence,'€ Tony said over the phone on Tuesday.

Tony said that MR was head of the subagency from November 2012 to April 2013 and is currently head of the Eastern stream division at the Jakarta Water Management Agency. Furthermore, W was head of the West Jakarta water management subagency from April to August 2013 and is currently head of the Western stream division at the Jakarta Water Management Agency. Meanwhile, P was head of the subagency from August 2013 to December 2013 and is currently head of the East Jakarta Bina Marga (Roads) subagency.

He went on to say that the alleged graft took place in the 2013 budget year, when the West Jakarta water management subagency allocated Rp 66.5 billion (US$4.8 million) for various self-managed activities. Tony said the three officials were suspected of embezzling funds allocated for four self-managed activities in the subagency: infrastructure maintenance, drainage channel management, dredging and repairing conduits and normalizing riverbanks.

Tony said that the implementation of the activities did not match with the accountability report submitted by the agency.

'€œIn its accountability report, the subagency wrote that the four projects were carried out with the help of a third party. However, in its implementation, there was no involvement from a third party,'€ he said.

Tony said that based on initial investigations, the alleged graft resulted in up to Rp 19 billion in state losses.

Separately, the East Jakarta Police are also investigating a possible graft case by the East Jakarta Bina Marga subagency in the 2012 and 2013 budget years, similarly involving self-managed funds for various projects.

East Jakarta Police chief Sr. Comr. Umar Faroq said that the police raided the subagency'€™s office late on Monday to seize documents relevant to its investigations.

'€œWe have yet to name any suspects. After thoroughly investigating the documents, we will announce the suspects,'€ he said on Tuesday as quoted by kompas.com.

Umar said that the police had questioned a number of civil servants in the subagency and expected to have a suspect soon.

Governor Basuki '€œAhok'€ Tjahaja Purnama praised the AGO and the police and encouraged the institutions to uncover more graft cases within the city administration.

'€œThis is good news. They [law enforcers] should catch all the perpetrators,'€ Ahok told reporters at City Hall on Tuesday.

Separately, City Council deputy speaker Triwisaksana of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) said that civil servants must continue working despite law enforcers scrutinizing the city administration.

Previously, Financial and Asset Management Board head Heru Budi Hartono revealed that the city administration had thus far recorded low spending as civil servants deliberately delayed spending for fear of unknowingly getting involved in a corruption scheme.

'€œCivil servants must not be affected by this news. It is good to be careful, but the civil servants must continue working,'€ Triwisaksana said at the City Council building on Tuesday.