Many Surabaya Village Heads Believed to Have Embezzled Food Allowances

Surabaya, E Java (Antara) - Many village heads in Surabaya city, East Java, are believed to have embezzled senior citizens' food allowances amounting to Rp10 thousand per day. "I received a report about the case from the residents some time ago. I do not know the case exactly. We have assigned officers to check the truth of the report in the field," Surabaya Mayor Tri Rismaharini said after giving directives to village heads and sub-district heads at Sawunggaling Building in the Surabaya city administration office on Monday. The mayor said the local authorities had sent a team of officers from the inspectorate unit on a field trip to check the truth of the report. The city administration will not hesitate to fire them if they were found embezzling the fund, she added. "The punishment will be heavier if they are proven guilty of committing violation," she said. Head of the city inspectorate unit Sigit Sugiharsono confirmed he had been ordered by the mayor to check the alleged irregularities in the distribution of senior citizens' food allowances. "We have sent a team to check the report in the field. Admittedly, we are short of officers to carry out checks in all 154 villages in the city," he said. The inspectorate unit was currently cross-checking the report with the social service, he said. The food allowances for senior citizens were launched when Tri Rismaharini took office in 2010. (*) Reported by Abdul Hakim