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KPK denies 'secret deal' secured budget approval

Jakarta Globe - February 14, 2009

Febriamy Hutapea – The Corruption Eradication Commission, or KPK, on Wednesday denied allegations that it used "backdoor channels" to secure its budget for 2009.

Antasari Azhar, the head of the KPK, was questioned by members of the House of Representatives' Commission III, which oversees legal affairs, after the legislators learned that the Ministry of Finance and the House's budget committee approved the KPK's Rp 93 billion ($7.9 million) budget without its approval.

Antasari said that in 2008, he had asked the commission on three separate occasions to approve the KPK's request for a budget of Rp 187.9 billion, but the request was ignored.

After a meeting with House Speaker Agung Laksono on Friday, Antasari denied that the KPK had forwarded its budget proposal directly to the Finance Ministry, saying that at the time it had just presented its outline to House Commission III.

Antasari said that he was surprised by the Finance Ministry's approval of the proposal. He had planned to ask the ministry to clarify its action, he said. "We were also confused after the Finance Ministry decided to approve our budget," Antasari said.

On Wednesday, several House commission members also raised questions about the visit of two lawmakers – Johny Allen from the Democratic Party and Setya Novanto from the Golkar Party – to the KPK's headquarters weeks before the House's budget committee and the Finance Ministry endorsed the state budget plan in October.

The visit of the two lawmakers raised fears that the KPK had struck a "secret deal" with them to facilitate the approval of its budget.

Trimedya Panjaitan, chairman of Commission III, said that it had previously rejected the KPK's budget proposal for the recruitment of new staff and the construction of a new office. However, the House's budget committee backed the proposal and approved the release of the $8 million.

Johny, who is the deputy chairman of the House's budget committee, said on Friday that his visit to the KPK was part of his duties to confirm whether the proposed projects were really necessary. "It was part of my job, [so] it shouldn't be politicized," he said.