JAKARTA. Coordinating Political, Legal & Security Affairs Minister Wiranto announced on Tuesday that the Saber Pungli illegal levies eradication task force had confiscated Rp 17.6 billion (US$1.3 million) in illegal fees through 917 raids since its establishment on Oct. 28 last year.
Wiranto said that although the confiscated amount might not be as much as the embezzled funds recovered by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) in its anti-graft operations, the task force had made significant progress in eradicating the illegal fee practice in the general government and public service sectors.
“Corruption has caused losses to the state. The task force does not specifically focus on that crime. Instead, we address illegal levy practices that has caused problems for citizens,” Wiranto said on Tuesday.
As of July 19, the task force has received 31,110 reports on illegal levies. The highest proportion of complaints was sent as text messages and consisted of 20,020 reports.
Authorities have named 1,834 illegal levy suspects ranging from government officials, police officers and prosecutor office staff in 34 provinces across the country.
Thirty-six percent of all complaints concern the delivery of public services, followed by complaints on law enforcement (26 percent), educational institutions (18 percent), license and permit issuance (12 percent) and employment affairs (8 percent).
The Culture and Education Ministry is the state institution with the highest number of complaints, followed by the National Police, the Transportation Ministry, the Health Ministry, the Law and Human Rights Ministry, the Home Ministry, the Religious Affairs Ministry, the Agrarian and Spatial Planning Ministry, the Finance Ministry and the Indonesian Armed Forces.
