Depok – The Jakarta suburb of Depok might have lost tens of billions of rupiah from building permits, as money that should have gone to the city administration was allegedly directed to officers' personal accounts instead, a watchdog said Friday.

Coordinator of the Depok branch of the Indonesian Forum for Budget Transparency, Roy Prygina, said based on the data from Depok's City and Architecture Planning Agency there were 635 buildings and 159 towers without building permits in the city.

"If the average levies for building and space usage permits amounted to between Rp 50 million (around US$5,320) and Rp 100 million respectively, the total potential fund is in the tens of billions of rupiah," he said.

"The question is: If the owners of these buildings paid for permits, then where did the money go? Did it go to the city administration, or to officers' personal accounts?" Roy said, as quoted by Antara.

He said the agency lacked transparency with the public and coordination with other government institutions.

Depok Council member Qurtifa Wijaya, said the increase in buildings without permits in the city was attributed to a lack of control, regulations and good services.

He also attributed the problem to "deals" made by officers and staff members of the Depok administration with owners of illegal buildings.