TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Jakarta refuses to return alleged Sumber Waras losses
Change Size
The picture shows a planned cardiac and cancer hospital set to be constructed on the land the city administration purchased from Sumber Waras Hospital in Grogol, West Jakarta. (kompas.com/Windoro Adi )
T
he Jakarta city administration says it will not fulfill the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) recommendation to return an alleged Rp 191 billion (US$14.46 million) in state losses caused by irregularities in the land acquisition process for the Sumber Waras Hospital in West Jakarta.
“The city’s health agency has been given authorization to tell BPK that the administration can’t return the alleged state losses. The city inspectorate visited BPK on Thursday to inform them of this,” city secretary Saefullah said at City Hall on Thursday.
The BPK audit of the Jakarta administration's 2014 financial report included a report of the city's Rp 755.69 billion land purchase.
The BPK said that the price was inflated and the land should have been purchased for the same taxable value of property (NJOP) as the surrounding buildings. The land, the agency report said, could have been bought for Rp 564.35 billion, which would have saved the city Rp 191 billion.
The Corruption Eradication Commission said recently that its investigators had not found any indications of illegal behavior in the land acquisition.
Saefullah said that it was impossible for the city administration to pay for the loss, adding that it would make more sense for the BPK to order Sumber Waras Foundation, the former land owner, to return the money to the administration.
Previously, Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama also questioned the BPK’s persistence in its recommendation, although the KPK had not discovered any wrongdoing. “All we can do is to report the BPK to its code of conduct council. I have reported this matter to the council but until now have not received a response,” Ahok said on Thursday. (bbn)
