T

estifying at the Jakarta Corruption Court on Thursday, Vice President Jusuf Kalla defended graft suspect Jero Wacik against the accusation that the former minister misused money from the state budget to cover personal expenses while serving as culture and tourism minister between 2005 and 2009.

Kalla was the vice president for then president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono when the alleged crime took place.

Kalla appeared in court to testify on behalf of Jero, who was standing trail on charges of embezzling
Rp 10 billion.

He said that Jero did not violate any regulations because a Finance Ministry regulation issued in 2006 on the use of ministerial funds stipulated that ministers had the prerogative to spend ministerial funds at their discretion on either personal or official use.

The government scrapped the 2006 Finance Ministry regulation, which limited the use of ministerial funds to official activities and replaced it with the 2014 regulation, which gives more room for ministers to spend operational funds at their initiative without requiring them to write accountability reports on the use of the funds as mandated by the 2006 regulation.

'€œAs a representative [of the government], it is difficult make a distinction between ministerial duties and daily activities as ministers. Because the [2006] regulation was scrapped, ministers must refer to the 2014 rule. The thinking behind it [the current regulation] is to help ease ministers'€™ jobs,'€ Kalla said on Thursday.

Jero, Kalla said, could use ministerial funds to pay for activities like dinners with colleagues or official guests.
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Jero, Kalla said, could use ministerial funds to pay for activities like dinners with colleagues or official guests.

He also said that ministerial funds could be used to pay for official activities not covered by individual ministries'€™ budgets.

'€œFor example, a minister has to stay healthy. If he wants to exercise but there is no budget provided by his office then he could use operational funds,'€ Kalla said.

Kalla also said that Jero had in fact delivered on his job as culture and tourism minister by increasing the number of foreign arrivals from 5 million to 7.5 million between 2005 and 2009.

'€œAs a minister he achieved a lot while in office,'€ Kalla said, adding that there were no indications to suggest that Jero abused his position as culture and tourism minister for personal gain.

When pressed by KPK prosecutors if a minister could spend ministerial funds to fund family activities as Jero did, Kalla said: '€œAs I earlier stated, it is impossible to separate the role of a minister'€™s daily life and in official duties.'€

After the hearing, KPK prosecutors lambasted Kalla for basing his statement on the 2014 Finance Ministry regulation, saying that a new regulation could not be used to defend a violation that happened prior to its passage.

KPK prosecutor Yadyn said that Jero'€™s offenses clearly violated the 2006 regulation, which was applicable when Jero was in office.

'€œWe'€™re sticking with the 2006 regulation,'€ Yadyn said.

He said the KPK'€™s team of prosecutors were optimistic that the panel of judges would rule in favor of the KPK because witnesses and evidence collected during the nearly three-month trial had proven Jero'€™s guilt.

'€œWe are optimistic that we will win the case because all the collected evidence and testimonies support our argument,'€ Yadyn added.