Jakarta – The Foreign Ministry said Friday it had uncovered cases of corruption worth more than Rp 28 billion (US$3.1 million) at Indonesian missions in Malaysia and Japan.

A senior official said cases of officials charging illegal fees in the processing of passports and visas were detected in the Kuala Lumpur and Tokyo embassies, the Johor Baru and Kuching consulates and at the Tawau liaison office in Malaysia's eastern state of Sabah.

"We have found financial irregularities in our offices in the two countries," ministry inspector general Diene S. Muhario said.

Last year, House of Representatives legislator Djoko Susilo of the National Mandate Party alleged the practice of charging illegal fees was widespread in Indonesian missions in Malaysia.

Diene said the amount of illegal levies charged in Malaysia between 2000 and 2005 reached Rp 17.5 billion. All related to the administration of passports and visas.

Malfeasance in the Tokyo embassy from January 2004 through February 2006 was worth Rp 11 billion and was mostly related to visa extensions, she said.

The graft came to light after ministry officials investigated the offices in Malaysia at the end of last year and the Tokyo embassy in February, she said.

Diene declined to name the officials suspected of involvement in the scams because they were still being questioned by Corruption Eradication Commission investigators.

"At least one senior official in each office is accountable for the crimes. However, in the Tawau case, we have two persons," she said. No arrests had yet been made.

To minimize graft, Diene said the government planned to reform the ministry's bureaucracies, Antara reported.

"In the future, immigration payments will not be in cash and will not take place inside the offices. Instead they will be transferred through banks. We will also rotate officials in immigration offices," she said.