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House denies state losses from allegedly fictitious work visits
The House of Representatives has denied allegations made in a Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) 2015 report on the House's general secretariat, that some lawmakers' work visits to constituents were fictitious.
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Former House of Representatives speaker Setya Novanto says that it was not due to any personal interest on his part that he recently met with US business tycoon Donald Trump, one of the Republican candidates vying for the US presidency in 2016. (kompas.com)
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span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.6667px; line-height: 20.8px;">The House of Representatives has denied allegations made in a Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) 2015 report on the House's secretariat general, that some lawmakers' work visits to constituents were fictitious.
"What is being referred to as state losses in the media isn't really state losses, but rather alleged potential [losses] which are yet to be verified," said Suratna, the House's secretariat general media bureau chief, in a statement on Friday.
Prior to the BPK's examination, many lawmakers had already reported their work visits to their factions, Suratna claimed.
The House's secretariat will collect lawmakers' work-visit reports and hand them over to the BPK.
A letter, dated last Tuesday May 10, 2016, signed by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) faction secretary Bambang Wuryanto and addressed to all faction members, was circulated via media on Thursday. The letter requested that all members report their working visits and visits made outside the recess period, in response to a letter from the House’s secretariat general that doubted whether the work visits happened.
The one-page document highlighted potential state losses of Rp 945.465 billion (US$71 million) resulting from the ruling party's lawmakers' work-visit expenses.
PDI-P lawmakers are expected to complete their reports from the third and fourth sitting sessions of 2014-2015 and the first and second sessions of 2015-2016.
Former House speaker Setya Novanto, who is currently running in the Golkar Party's chairmanship race, served as a House speaker for 2014-2015 and the first session of 2015-2016.
Later on, Hendrawan Supratikno, a senior PDI-P politician, confirmed the letter's validity, saying it only constituted a notification from faction leaders to the lawmakers. Lawmakers have been warned to improve the quality of their activity reporting during recess sessions and visits to constituent regions.
"Judging from the amount of state losses, something doesn't make sense, because the House's budget in 2015 was only Rp 3.9 trillion," he said on Thursday.
The BPK is currently auditing the House's finance, including lawmakers' work-visit expenses, BPK chairman Harry Azhar Azis said on Thursday. The audit report will be delivered to the House in June.
As of Friday, two of ten factions in the House had admitted receiving the letter regarding work-visit reports from the House secretariat. Hidayat Nur Wahid, a lawmaker from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), said his faction had received the letter and that the BPK's work was a routine thing.
The National Mandate Party (PAN) and NasDem Party factions said on Thursday they hadn't received any such letter from the House's secretariat. (dmr)
