DPR to Investigate Corruption Allegation at Bulog
Friday, 08 December, 2006 | 13:55 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: The Commission of Agriculture and Food at the House of Representatives (DPR) plans to investigate the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) regarding provisions of 109 units of a rice milling plant valued at Rp294 billion at the public company Bulog (state logistics agency) during 2003-2005.

“We have set up an investigation team to look into the matter further ,” head of the Agriculture and Food Commission at DPR Yusuf Faisal told Tempo.

Yusuf said that the investigation has gone on since some discordant matters found in the provisions. They include price rising, goods supplies and factory machinery.

The investigation team has 15 members of Agriculture and Food Commission. “I hope, the investigation result can be finished by mid-January to early February 2007,” said Yusuf.

Deputy Head of the Agricultural Commission, Suswono, said that the investigation team was formed on Wednesday (12/6). “Within a short while, the team will hold a meeting to set up the next step,” he said.

In the document of semester I/2006, BPK studied provisions on the rice milling factory that consist of three main components: dryer, rice milling machine, and power generator.

The document shows that the price of each milling unit is around Rp2.5-Rp2.9 billion. All units were provided by PT Mustika Anugerah Sakti as the agent of PT Agrindo. In fact, BPK once received a contract copy of a milling purchase by Mustika Anugerah Sakti to Agrindo for Rp1.6 billion.

When asked to confirm it, spokesperson of Bulog Fatah Yasin denied the manipulation of the supply of the rice milling machine.

According to him, the entire supply process is in line with Presidential Decree Number 80/2003 concerning Supply of Government's Goods/Services. “The announcement of the auction is transparent,” he said.

Fatah has also denied that the price of a milling machine is said to be unreasonable. The reason is that they have compared the price to a number of countries such as China and Thailand.

As regards the milling machine provider, Fatah explained that Agrindo is the only company that is capable of supplying a milling machine which adopts Bulog's provision. Moreover, according to him, all goods supplied at Bulog have been audited by the Finance and Development Supervisory Agency. As a result, all goods supply were normal.

Ewo Raswa