JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's military will no longer buy weapons
at inflated prices, its military chief vowed Sunday, amid concerns
people were illegally making unwarranted profits from mark-ups.
The Indonesia Military Commander Gen. Endriartono Sutarto also
said he would launch an investigation into any indication of
irregularities in the military's purchase of weapons and other
military hardware, a report said.
"If there are really indications of a mark up, then it
should be followed up," Kompas quoted Endriartono as
saying in the Central Java city of Yogyakarta.
His comment came after Indonesian President
MegawatiSoekarnoputri said while in the Czech Republic on June 18
that she remained committed to stopping any markups in the
purchasing of weapons and any other military equipment.
The report gave no further details.
The purchase of 39 ships used by the former East German navy in
the early 1990s, which has been surrounded by claims of high-costs
markups and other irregularities, is one sale likely to come under
scrutiny, AFP reported.
While long-time dictator Soeharto still ruled the country,
Indonesia bought the ships -- 16 Porchim-class corvettes, 14
Frosch-class LST troops carriers and nine mine sweepers.
Germany sold the ships, spare parts for five years and 5,000
tons of ammunition for 12 million dollars in credits.
Around US$230 million, from German loans, were also used to
renovate the ships.
But less than 10 years later, only 10 of the ships are
operational.
