Jakarta – Various watchdog bodies have reported irregularities in the campaign funds of presidential candidates.
The Election Supervisory Body (Bawaslu) discovered an irregularity in one of the campaign funds after it began investigating Tuesday.
"We suspect that a company that donated Rp 5 billion (US$490,000) to one of the candidates might be fictitious," Bambang Eka Cahya Widodo, a Bawaslu member, said Wednesday. He refused to name the company or the candidate that received the donation, until more evidence had been gathered.
On Tuesday, the General Elections Commission (KPU) reported that PT Sohibul Barokah had donated Rp 5 billion to the Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono-Boediono campaign team. The report does not note any other companies donating that amount of money.
PT Sohibul Barokah is a bank equipment and supplies company located in Sunter, North Jakarta. "How can a company that has only two computers donate Rp 5 billion?" Bambang said.
He said illegal accounts were the most common way to donate large sums of money to candidates.
"Illegal accounts are hard to trace. We have gathered information about mysterious groups, outside of the campaign team structure, working for and donating to the candidates," he said.
"But it's hard to prove these groups are connected to the candidates because we lack access to their bank accounts," he added.
He said the 2008 presidential election law did not have strong control mechanisms for these groups.
The law does not stipulate whether funds donated by individuals or companies to political parties can be channeled to the candidates. This creates a loophole for individuals or companies wanting to donate more than the limit stated in the law.
"Using outside groups to fund campaigns through illegal accounts has occurred since 2004," Bambang said.
Bambang said the Bawaslu would work together with the Financial Transaction Reports Analysis Center (PPATK) to investigate the illegal accounts.
"The Bawaslu does not have access to the suspicious accounts, but the PPATK does. The investigation can be carried out with its help," he said.
Yunus Husein, chairman of the analysis center, said Tuesday, as quoted by Antara, that even though the law stated a donation limit from individuals or companies, attempts to bypass the law persisted.
"There were several suspicious transactions prior to the presidential election. Several political parties put Rp 10 billion into the account of an insurance company," he said.
"Politicians even use their wife's or driver's accounts to receive illegal funds." He also said that candidates' political consultant funds had come under suspicion. "The funds for the consultants came from foreign bank accounts," he said. The law states candidates are not allowed to receive foreign donations.(fmb)