Corruption-prone nonbudgetary funds still exist: BPK<\/p>\n
Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Chairman of the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) Satrio B. Judono
\nhas expressed concern that the old, bad habit of government
\nministries and state agencies collecting nonbudgetary funds
\nremains widespread.<\/p>\n
He said there were indications that some of the institutions
\nwere reluctant to transfer funds to state coffers via the
\nMinistry of Finance account, as required by existing regulations.<\/p>\n
\"The government has not taken any steps to uphold the existing
\nregulations (on nonbudgetary funds).... We presume there are
\nstill many off-balance-sheet funds managed by the institutions,\"
\nhe told the media on Friday.<\/p>\n
Judono, however, refused to give figures or mention the state
\ninstitutions involved.<\/p>\n
Nonbudgetary or off-balance-sheet funds are basically nontax
\nrevenues collected by state institutions but not included in the
\nstate budget. In the past, these huge funds were a source of
\ncorruption and were allegedly used to finance the 32-year
\nauthoritarian rule of former president Soeharto.<\/p>\n
In a bid to curb corruption as well as to implement good
\ngovernance and transparency in state institutions, the government
\ndecided to eliminate nonbudgetary funds and transfer them to a
\nstate revenue account subject to public audit.<\/p>\n
Two presidential instructions (Nos. 9\/1999 and 4\/2000) and a
\nMinistry of Finance decree were issued to prohibit state
\ninstitutions from managing their own budget drawn from nontax
\nrevenues.<\/p>\n
The government had set a deadline of July 2000 for the
\ninstitutions to transfer the funds. However, of 58 ministries and
\nstate agencies, only 24 had reported their nonbudgetary accounts,
\n21 declared they did not maintain such accounts and 13
\ninstitutions had not yet reported by the deadline. Some analysts
\nhave even suspected that many institutions did not reveal the
\ngenuine level of funds, although BPKP (the internal audit agency)
\nwas called in to verify their reports.<\/p>\n
At the time of the deadline, the government managed to net
\nmore than Rp 11 trillion (US$1.3 billion) in nonbudgetary funds,
\nthe bulk of which came from reforestation funds, which totaled Rp
\n7.5 trillion. This figure was much higher than the Rp 4.1
\ntrillion initially reported by the Ministry of Forestry at the
\ntime, and there have been accusations that the actual amount of
\nthe funds was much higher.<\/p>\n
Many institutions have refused to transfer their nonbudgetary
\nfunds (or some only transferred part of them) because there are
\nno definite sanctions stipulated if they violate the ruling.<\/p>\n
Judono said that in order to prevent any misuse of
\nnonbudgetary funds and to uphold accountability, BPK was now
\ngiving consideration to auditing foundations or other legal
\nentities linked with the institutions, including the newly
\nestablished Vice President Center and several universities.<\/p>\n
The Vice President Center is a non-governmental organization
\nset up by Vice President Hamzah Haz aimed at providing an
\nalternative forum for communication between the government, the
\npublic and the private sector in dealing with problems facing the
\nnation. During its launch in August the center managed to collect
\nRp 325 million ($38,700).<\/p>\n
State universities are also targeted in the audit because they
\noften receive foreign funds for research projects or education
\ninfrastructure. Such funds are not subject to public audit.<\/p>",
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