he Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has received 14 reports of gratuities in the form of free Asian Games tickets from a number of state officials and government employees.
“[As of Tuesday], we have received 13 reports of unused free tickets as well as a report of two used tickets,” KPK spokesman Febri Diansyah said on Tuesday.
Febri, however, refused to specify the details of the reported free tickets. “There are officials who accepted tickets for the Asian Games’ opening ceremony.”
According to the antigraft body, officials who reported the unlawful gifts came from various institutions and positions, including director generals, directors, sub-directorate unit heads, secretaries and account representatives at the Finance Ministry’s directorate general of taxation.
Febri added that the KPK had a maximum of 30 days to verify the report on whether the free tickets were a gratuity.
“It’s not too late for other officials to report to the KPK should they accept similar gifts,” Febri said. Should officials fail to report the gratuity within 30 days, the graft busters can prosecute them for accepting bribes.
As stipulated in Article 12B of the 2001 Corruption Law, gratuities include money, goods, discounts, commissions, interest-free loans or free travel tickets, accommodation, tours or medical care, among others.
However, the KPK stated that free tickets would not be counted as a gratuity if they were an official invitation to be present at an event as a representative of a ministry or state institution.
Previously, it stated it had received reports of officials requesting or accepting free Games tickets as several state enterprises were required to buy tickets for officials.
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