Treasury law leaves room for graft<\/p>\n
Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Chairman of the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) Satrio B. Judono
\nexpressed disappointment on Friday with the newly endorsed State
\nTreasury Law as it fails to empower state treasurers to reject
\nany unscrupulous demands from their superiors that may lead to
\nthe corruption of state funds or assets.<\/p>\n
Satrio said that with the absence of such authority in the
\nlaw, BPK feared that the state treasurers could be squeezed by
\nother officials or their superiors to approve questionable
\ntransactions or disbursement of state funds.<\/p>\n
"The law is not what we had expected... The country's
\nmanagement of state funds will remain as it was in the old days,
\nwith messy internal control at state institutions over the
\ndisbursement of the funds," said Satrio in a press briefing.<\/p>\n
The House of Representatives passed on Thursday the long-
\nawaited state treasury bill into law, which Minister of Finance
\nBoediono boasted will greatly improve the management of state
\nfunds and assets and thus help prevent corruption.<\/p>\n
Satrio explained that the treasurers should be independent of
\ntheir superiors and other officials in order to help curb
\ncorruption in the management of state funds and assets.<\/p>\n
However, under the new law the treasurers are still restricted
\nby their superiors although they are personally responsible for
\nany losses of state money under their management.<\/p>\n
"I am pessimistic about the law... Good management of state
\nfunds should come first from strong and reliable internal
\ncontrol," said Satrio.<\/p>\n
BPK had proposed to the government and the legislators a
\ncouple of years ago to include several articles that would give
\nthe treasurers the power to reject improper payment orders that
\nmay lead to the leakage of state funds or other irregularities.<\/p>\n
For instance, the treasurers must be able to reject a proposed
\ntransaction if there are no funds available in their accounts,
\npreventing them from taking funds allocated for other purposes.<\/p>\n
The agency had also proposed an article that would strongly
\nregulate what things could and could not be done in managing
\nstate finances, so that violations committed by treasurers could
\nbe easily defined.<\/p>\n
However, Satrio said that the government had rejected BPK's
\nproposal, saying such a huge authority for a treasurer could
\nobstruct the flow of fund disbursement, thus disturbing the
\ncountry's overall economic development.<\/p>\n
"The government once said that a strong treasurer could foul
\nup development. That is why they rejected our proposal," he said.<\/p>\n
The State Treasury Law provides rulings on how state funds,
\nassets and debts should be managed by government officials both
\nat the central government and local administrations. This law is
\ncrucial to allow the enforcement of the State Finance Law, which
\nprovides basic principles in public financial management,
\napproved by the House in March this year.<\/p>\n
The House is expected to pass into law another bill on state
\nfinancial accountability to support the implementation of the
\nState Finance Law.<\/p>\n
All these three laws, the drafts of which had been submitted
\nto the House in September 2000, are designed to replace Dutch
\nlaws on treasury management.<\/p>\n
The lack of political will to combat corruption has positioned
\nIndonesia this year as the second most corrupt country in the
\nAssociation of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) after Myanmar, and
\nthe 10th in the world, according to the Berlin-based Transparency
\nInternational.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/treasury-law-leaves-room-for-graft-1447893297",
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