There is a Corruption Gap From Excess Pay To Buy DKI Jakarta Fire Truck Of IDR 6.5 Billion

Illustration (Unsplash)

JAKARTA - Secretary-General of the Indonesian Forum for Budget Transparency (FITRA), Misbah Hasan, revealed that the case of overpayments for the purchase of a Jakarta fire car could open up opportunities for corruption.

This finding was revealed in the examination of the DKI budget by the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK). If the procurement of this budget goes unchecked, the potential for corruption will occur there.

"The procurement of goods like this is one of the frequent gaps in corruption. Especially if this kind of case escapes the BPK examination, considering that the BPK examination is a sampling test. So not all financial transactions are examined by the BPK", Misbah told VOI, Monday, April 19.

Misbah said, the occurrence of overpayments usually occurs because the goods procurement process does not follow the standard price for goods set by the DKI Jakarta Provincial Government itself.

In fact, every year the DKI Provincial Government is obliged to make a standard price of goods as a reference for the procurement of goods/services budgeted in the Regional Revenue and Expenditure Budget (APBD).

Should the Jakarta Provincial Government's internal budget supervisors such as the Inspectorate and TGUPP (The Governor's Team for the Acceleration of Development) in the Corruption Prevention Committee (KPK) in the Capital City, can prevent cases of overpayment.

"This is the task of APIP (Government Internal Supervisory Apparatus). With this case and the possibility of other similar cases, it indicates that APIP's performance is not optimal. The performance of the Capital City Corruption Eradication Commission is also questionable", he said.

Previously, the Jakarta Supreme Audit Agency revealed that there was an overpayment for the purchase of fire extinguishers by the DKI Jakarta Fire and Rescue Agency.

Based on the 2019 DKI Provincial Government financial reports, the BPK found four packages of funds for the procurement of fire engines with expenses that exceed the price of the equipment. The total overpayment was recorded at around IDR 6.5 billion.

The details, the submersible unit has a real price of IDR 9 billion, a contract value of IDR 9, 7 billion, then the difference is IDR 761 million. Then the quick response unit with a real price of IDR 36.2 billion, a contract value of IDR 39.6 billion, the difference is IDR 3.4 billion.

Furthermore, fire fighting units in mass transportation facilities with a real price of IDR 7 billion, a contract value of IDR. 7.8 billion, the difference is IDR 844 million. Then, the unit for decomposing fire materials, the real price is IDR 32 billion, the contract value is IDR 33 billion, the difference is IDR 1 billion.

Later, Deputy Governor of DKI Jakarta, Ahmad Riza Patria, said that 90 percent of the overpaid has been returned. However, there is still 10 percent that has not been paid.