Jakarta Housing and Government Building Agency head Ika Lestari Aji claims that she did nothing wrong and was unaware of the details regarding the city's scandalous land procurement in West Cengkareng, suspected to have causes large state losses.
She expressed confusion over a woman named Toeti Noezlar Soekarno's claim of ownership of the land and the lawsuit the woman has brought against the city administration. Toeti claims the city has failed to pay Rp 200 billion (US$15.14 million) out of a total of Rp 648 billion it agreed to pay for the 4.6 hectare site in West Cengkareng.
"Honestly, I don't know how this could happen. I was duped. I didn't know that Toeti was not the legal owner of the land until the Supreme Audit Agency [BPK] investigated this matter," Ika told journalists on Thursday.
The housing agency believed that the purchase of the land last year had complied with procedure. The agency agreed to pay Toeti for the land to be used for low-cost apartments, she said, adding that the agency had collected all payment receipts as evidence and even made a background check before deciding to purchase the land.
Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama said earlier that he would dismiss Ika for her carelessness in the allegedly corrupt land purchase. Ika welcomed the decision saying that she would follow her leader in the administration.
"The governor has the authority to do that. But I am certain that I have not embezzled any money," she said.
BPK findings raised suspicions that the land procurement involved corruption as they revealed that the land was actually owned by the city administration through the fisheries and maritime agency. (rin)
Source: 'I was duped in the Cengkareng land purchase': Housing agency chief
No comments:
Post a Comment