The Expensiveness Of Paying A Commitment Fee Formula Is Believed To Be No Problem

Fomula e Documentation (Photo: Instagram @fiaformulae)

JAKARTA - The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has stated that it will continue to investigate allegations of corruption related to the implementation of the Formula E racing event in Jakarta, including the expensive commitment fee payments.

However, the DKI Provincial Government said there were no problems related to this and even invited the anti-corruption commission to ask for information from the license holder for the racing event.

After submitting the documents to the KPK, a member of the DKI Jakarta Governor's Team for the Acceleration of Development (TGUPP) Bambang Widjojanto or BW said there was no problem with the expensiveness of paying commitments related to the implementation of the electric car racing event.

For information, the DKI Jakarta Provincial Government paid 122.102 million pounds or Rp. 2.3 trillion to the organizers of this racing event. This price is considered more expensive because other countries that participated in holding the event only spent Rp. 1.7 billion to Rp. 17 billion.

"If you refer to Mr. Alberto's explanation (Chief Championship Formula E Operation, Alberto Longo), there is no problem with that. There is no problem at all," Bambang told reporters at the KPK's Red and White Building, Kuningan Persada, South Jakarta, Monday, 29 November.

He also invited the investigators of the alleged case to meet with Alberto to clarify the high cost of paying. The question, continued BW, felt it was more appropriate to ask the FEO rather than the DKI Provincial Government because this decision was taken by them.

"So if the KPK friends want to meet with Alberto, they want to confirm all kinds of things, please, so Alberto has also agreed, yes," he said.

By asking for information from Alberto, BW hopes that the reason why Jakarta has to pay more commitment fees will be revealed. "Actually, Alberto has explained. It's just that this is not for public consumption and we don't have the authority to explain it. We have asked the KPK for communication," he said.

Some time ago, Deputy Chairperson of the KPK Alexander Marwata said his party was currently investigating allegations of corruption related to the implementation of Formula E in Jakarta. One of the things being investigated is related to the flow of funds and the expensiveness of paying to the organizers.

"That information will be investigated by investigators. The reasons why the DKI Provincial Government paid so much and where did the transfer go, whether to parties who really have the authority, for example, the owner of the rights to Formula E and so on," said Alexander told reporters, Thursday, November 25.

According to him, the cost of paying more than other host cities must be done to make this allegation clear. However, so far, Alexander suspects that the overpayment is because Jakarta is not as popular as other host cities.

"There may also be branch marking to other countries. It could be, for example, other cities are already famous, Rome for example, they may be more famous," he said.

In addition, the expensive payment is also suspected to further promote Jakarta in the event. Alexander said, this aims to make this city more known, especially in the international realm.

However, he said this was still conjecture. Later, the KPK will ask for an explanation from related parties regarding the high cost of paying.

"Why do you have to pay more than other cities, maybe they are considered popular, can attract tourists to watch Formula E and so on," concluded Alexander.