State asset reports require double checking: Sumarlin<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Reports on state assets must be examined
\nthoroughly, Chairman of the Supreme Audit Agency, J. B. Sumarlin,
\nsaid yesterday.<\/p>\n
\"We need a balance sheet to know the developments of all of
\nour state assets -- what, how many and where they are,\" he said
\nhere yesterday after submitting a report on the agency's auditing
\nof state budget implementation in the first semester of 1993-1994
\nto the House of Representatives.<\/p>\n
\"We have to examine the reports on state assets and their use
\nthrough cross-checking with other reports,\" he said.<\/p>\n
According to the Ministry of Finance, the publisher of the
\nannual State Assets Inventory, Indonesia's state assets,
\nconsisting mostly of land and buildings, were worth Rp 53.7
\ntrillion (US$24.8 billion) as of April 1, 1994.<\/p>\n
Sumarlin said yesterday, however, that the assets report
\nshould be examined thoroughly due to \"lack of orderliness among
\ngovernment officials.\"<\/p>\n
A vice chairman of the State Audit Agency, Kunarto, later told
\nreporters that the agency had uncovered a number of cases of
\nfraud at the cumulative amount of Rp 600 billion in a period from
\nApril 1 to Sept. 30, 1993.<\/p>\n
Kunarto clarified that the agency had examined about 10
\npercent of the total number of cases uncovered throughout the
\ncountry.<\/p>\n
\"You can imagine yourself how much money we lost,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Sumarlin, a former minister of finance himself, has been
\nmentioned repeatedly in relation to pressure put on four former
\nBank Bapindo executives to motivate them to give loans to
\nbusinessman Eddy Tansil, the alleged perpetrator of a US$433
\nmillion bank scam.<\/p>\n
He consistently denies the charges that he was involved in the
\nbank scam, saying that he never knew Tansil personally.<\/p>\n
Shortcomings<\/p>\n
Minister of Finance Mar'ie Muhammad acknowledged the
\nshortcomings in the inventory in June, most notably those of the
\nstate assets administered by provincial governments.<\/p>\n
But Mar'ie said the result of the latest inventory seemed much
\ncloser to reality because cumulative government investments over
\nthe past 25 years, without being reduced by depreciation, had
\ntotaled Rp 85 trillion.<\/p>\n
Sumarlin said yesterday that in a bid to improve the
\nmonitoring of state finances, the State Audit Agency would, as of
\nyesterday, open its financial reports to the public every six
\nmonths, instead of each year.<\/p>\n
The Speaker of the House, Wahono, said government officials
\nmust use every rupiah of the state budget effectively due to the
\ncurrent financial constraints.<\/p>\n
He said that he will distribute copies of the report to the
\nvarious House commissions soon and urge legislators to pay more
\nattention to supervising the use of state assets.<\/p>\n
In a related development, Kunarto denied collusion between the
\ngovernment and the State Audit Agency, saying that the agency has
\nnever asked the government to update its financial statements
\nprior to the delivery of the agency reports to the House. (09)<\/p>",
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