Irregularities in budget spending 17 percent: BPK<\/p>\n
Muninggar Sri Saraswati and Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post,
\nJakarta<\/p>\n
The Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) revealed on Tuesday it had
\ndiscovered 758 cases of irregularities in the use of the state
\nbudget amounting to Rp 6.421 trillion (US$710 million) between
\nJanuary and June of this year, or 17 percent of the total value
\nof spending being investigated.<\/p>\n
But BPK said it had yet to see any follow-up on the findings,
\nincluding punishment for the guilty parties.<\/p>\n
"The House should exert control over the bureaucracy regarding
\nvarious improper expenditures before deciding to approve the
\nproposed state budget revision for fiscal 2003," BPK deputy
\nchairman I Gede Artjana told The Jakarta Post after holding a
\nclose-door meeting with House Commission I on political, security
\nand foreign affairs at his office.<\/p>\n
The meeting was held to discuss a request from the Ministry of
\nDefense to raise its budget from Rp 16.162 trillion (US$18
\nmillion) last year to Rp 19.487 trillion in 2003.<\/p>\n
Artjana said the House had failed to follow up on the BPK's
\nfindings and impose stern sanctions against the bureaucrats
\ninvolved.<\/p>\n
"This country's legal system has various laws for various
\nviolations, but I don't see a determination on the part of the
\nHouse to maximize its efforts (to bring the perpetrators to
\ncourt)," Artjana said.<\/p>\n
Irregularities were found in the Indonesian embassies in
\nSingapore and Beijing involving Rp 14,501 million, and the
\nMinistry of Forestry (Rp 27,511 million).<\/p>\n
The BPK also found irregularities in the use of Rp 4.2 billion
\nof foreign borrowings intended for providing export credit
\nfacilities in the Ministry of Defense, the Indonesian Military
\nand the National Police.<\/p>\n
The Air Force topped the list, with irregularities amounting
\nto 100 percent of its total Rp 745 million budget allocation.
\nThe Army, perceived as the most corrupt, was found to have
\nmisused Rp 250 million, or 18.3 percent, of its budget.<\/p>\n
Regarding non-budgetary funds, the BPK found irregularities in
\nthe Ministry of Religious Affairs (Rp 3,564 million) and the
\nPresidential Aid Fund (Banpres) (Rp 23,678 million).<\/p>\n
The amount was far lower than that of the previous year, when
\nstate and regional offices and state enterprises were reported to
\nhave misused Rp 36.5 trillion of state funds.<\/p>\n
Only a few of the cases were taken to court.<\/p>\n
BPK chairman Satrio Budihardjo "Billy" Joedono once complained
\nthat the government -- from the time of the New Order era up to
\nthe present day -- had never followed up on the BPK's audit
\nreports.<\/p>\n
Artjana meanwhile said that Government Regulation No. 30\/1980
\non the civil service provides for administrative sanctions
\nagainst bureaucrats. These included dismissal should they fail to
\nimprove their professionalism.<\/p>\n
"There are other laws, such as the Criminal Code and the
\nAnticorruption Law, that allow law enforcers to bring bureaucrats
\nbefore the court if they are suspected of misusing state funds,"
\nArtjana said.<\/p>\n
Much lip service has been paid to the need to eradicate graft
\nand corruption since the end of the New Order era, but few real
\nresults have been yielded so far.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/irregularities-in-budget-spending-17-percent-bpk-1447893297",
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