The Jakarta Post | Tue, 05/04/2010 10:06 AM |
JAKARTA: An NGO calls for the Judicial Mafia Taskforce and the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to start looking into widespread corruption in the fisheries sector.
Kiara (People’s Coalition for Fishery Justice) secretary general M. Riza Damanik said time is high for law enforcers to bust corrupt practices at the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry.
He added that rife corruption at the ministry had been publicly reported by the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) and the KPK, which conducted an integrity survey in various ministries.
Riza said corruption occurred in the form of budget inefficiencies, abuse of permits and illegal levies at ports. In a case of abuse of permits, many local companies employ more foreign workers than the maximum 30 percent of total staff.
“The audit agency found that of the 1, 947 fishing vessel crew members it audited, 1,619, or 82 percent, were foreigners. How could that happen?” Riza said. — JP
