"We should laud the presidents efforts to eradicate illegal levies. The president has inspected the search operation at the Ministry of Transportations premises. The eradication of illegal levies should be conducted in any sector," Bambang Haryo Soekartono said, here on Wednesday.
Bambang remarked that the certification of vessels should be simplified to prevent illegal levies.
"Overlapping regulations of sea transportation occurred for a long time. As a result, the economic costs increased," he stated.
The practice of illegal levies did not only happen in the maritime transport, but it also occurred in land transportation.
"The officers of the ministry should be strictly supervised by the inspector general," he remarked.
If the inspector general found evidence of fraud, he noted, the evidence should be submitted to the police.
president Joko Widodo earlier confirmed, on Tuesday, that police have arrested certain officials of the Ministry of Transportation on charges of collecting illegal levies.
"We have just discussed the illegal levies eradication operation (OPP). We received a report from the National Police chief that some officials of the Ministry of Transportation have been arrested on charges of collecting illegal levies on shipment documents. Various amounts were being charged. In some cases, levies involved hundreds of thousands of rupiah, while in certain cases, these ran into millions of rupiahs," the president disclosed, as he inspected the search operation at the Ministry of Transportations offices.
He made it clear that he reached the scene to ensure that the search of the ministrys premises to catch those involved in alleged collecting of illegal levies runs smoothly.
The president further asked all agencies and institutions to stop receiving illegal levies, as standard operating procedures have been put in place.
"I have ordered the immediate arrest and dismissal of irresponsible officials who were found guilty of receiving illegal levies, particularly when it comes to public services," the president added.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2016
