Susilo's anticorruption drive disappointing: KPK<\/p>\n
Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Eleven months after taking over the presidency, Susilo Bambang
\nYudhoyono's pledges to curb corruption within government
\nagencies, particularly the tax and customs services, have not
\nbeing realized, according to the Corruption Eradication
\nCommission (KPK).<\/p>\n
\"The commission is very disappointed with the government's
\nefforts to prevent corruption. Its efforts and its determination
\nhave yet to show progress,\" KPK Chairman Taufiqurrahman Ruki said
\nafter meeting the President on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The meeting was held to allow the KPK put forward its views
\nand evaluation of the government's anticorruption drive, which was
\nlabeled by the commission as \"very slow and lacking commitment
\nfrom the President's aides\".<\/p>\n
Taufiqurrahman called on the government to speed up the
\nanticorruption drive in the country's most corrupt institutions;
\nthe Directorate General of Taxation and the Directorate General
\nof Customs and Excise. Both institutions come under the
\nsupervision of the Ministry of Finance.<\/p>\n
\"There have been so much leakage from the tax and customs
\nservices as a result of collusion between taxpayers and
\nofficials. Our preliminary investigation shows that big fish
\ncorruptors are still sniffing at the doors of both services,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
A survey by Transparency International Indonesia in February
\nrevealed that customs service was the country's most corrupt
\ninstitution.<\/p>\n
The country has been relying on revenues from taxes and excise
\nduties for the past five years to help finance government
\nexpenditure. This year's budget envisages 85 percent of revenues
\nbeing contributed by taxes and excise duties.<\/p>\n
Based on the budget, the government hopes to collect Rp 331.8
\ntrillion (US$32.8 billion) in taxes and excise duties this year
\nand some Rp 402.1 trillion next year.<\/p>\n
Analysts believe that the government could net more than Rp
\n500 trillion in tax and excise revenue this year by improving tax
\ncollection administration and tackling corruption.<\/p>\n
The KPK also emphasized the need for the government to reform
\nthe public procurement system as it found that leakage in this
\narea often amounted to more than 30 percent of the procurement
\nvalue.<\/p>\n
\"There has been no sign of seriousness from ministers, the
\nheads of government agencies and state enterprise executives in
\npreventing procurement leakage or securing revenue for the
\nstate,\" said Taufiqurrahman.<\/p>\n
The KPK also highlighted a lack of coordination between the
\nNational Police and the Attorney General's Office in
\ninvestigating and bringing prosecutions in corruption cases.<\/p>\n
\"Aside from poor coordination, the money allocated for
\nprocessing corruption case in these two institutions is too low,
\nabout Rp 2.5 million per case. President Susilo should seriously
\naddress these problems,\" Taufiqurrahman said.<\/p>\n
Cabinet Secretary Sudi Silalahi said Susilo acknowledged his
\nanticorruption drive was still far from achieving its goal and
\npromised to speed up the efforts.<\/p>\n
\"The President responds positively to the KPK input and
\nexpresses his dissatisfaction over the current anticorruption
\nefforts of his aides. The government will intensify its efforts
\nand remain consistent to its goals,\" he said.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/susilos-anticorruption-drive-disappointing-kpk-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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