House to summon Kwik and Kuntoro over revocation of PT Bukaka's tender
Monday, May 29 2000 - 03:30 AM WIB
Commission VIII of the House of Representatives will summon Coordinating Minister for Finance, Economy and Industry Kwik Kian Gie and president of state-owned electricity company PLN Kuntoro over the revocation by President Abdurrahman Wahid of a tender won by PT Bukaka, Tempo Interaktif reported on Saturday.
The plan to summon the two officials was disclosed by Priyo Budi Santoso, a member of the commission from the Golkar party, in Jakarta on Saturday. He said that the summon was intended to clarify whether there is a high level conspiration between Gus Dur, as the President was popularly known, and other high ranking officials.
As it was widely reported, one of the reasons Gus Dur dismissed Jusuf Kalla as the trade and industry minister was because the latter was accused of being involved in collusion, corruption and nepotism (KKN) practice in the tender of the Central Java-West Java electricity transmission project. Jusuf, who was one of Bukaka's commissioners, was accused of utilizing his position to win the tender.
However, Jusuf frequently denied the accusation. "How could we do the KKN practice if the tender was held openly and was publicly announced in newspapers? It was proven that the prices we offered were the cheapest," he said.
"It is a bit strange that the President was forced to directly meddle in such a technical matter only because there was a trivial conflict between Gus Dur and Jusuf Kalla," Priyo said.
He explained that his commission will also summon Kwik because he was the official who signed the revocation letter of the tender, even though he reportedly did not agree with the revocation. Sources at PT Bukaka quoted Kwik as saying he just apologized but did not give much details when Jusuf asked about the reason behind the revocation of the tender. "According to Gus Dur, Bukaka used to abandon one of PLN projects," Kwik said.
But Priyo did not believe Kwik's statement. "If Bukaka abandoned PLN project, the company should have had been blacklisted from the tender," he said.
Therefore, if clarification from Kuntoro and Kwik shows that the revocation was intentionally prepared, Commission VIII will also ask for clarification directly from Gus Dur, Priyo said. "It is unusual that a President deeply meddles in such a trivial matter," he added. (*)