DENPASAR – Reports from Bali carried by Bali Update (www.balidiscovery.com) indicate 44 of the island’s immigration officials are being examined by Indonesia’s Anti-Corruption Board in connection with the suspected embezzlement of Rp. 3 billion (US$294,000) by immigration officials at Bali’s Ngurah Rai International Airport.
The alleged corruption allegedly occurred between the months of October 2008 and May 2009 in the under-reporting of funds received from visa on arrival sales.
Visitors from a number of countries are allowed upon arrival in Bali to purchase a non-extendable seven day visa for US$10 or a 30-day visa for US$25.
The head of the airport immigration office, Budhi Harmanto, confirmed to the Bali Post that 44 members of his office have been undergoing interrogation since June.
Harmanto said the investigation commenced after inspectors from the central headquarters of immigration found irregularities in visa-on-arrival accounts, thought to have occurred when immigration officials deposited the value of a 7-day visa when, in fact, the more expensive 30-day visa had been paid for and issued to an incoming tourist.
Quoted in the Bali Post, the vice-chairman of the Bali chapter of the Association of Indonesian Travel Agents (ASITA), Ketut Ardana, said that his membership had complained “tens of times” regarding the poor service of immigration officials; in each instance ASITA’s complaints fell on deaf ears.
