Audit commission seeks help from defiant masters

Audit commission seeks help from defiant masters

Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Public Servants' Wealth Audit Commission (KPKPN) has sought
the help of the House of Representatives (DPR) to force state
officials to submit their wealth declarations.

Commission head Jusuf Syakir said that of about 50,000 forms
distributed to state officials nationwide, only 31 percent of
them had been returned.

Jusuf added that the lack of power vested in his commission to
compel state officials to submit their declarations should prompt
the government and legislators to revise the existing law.

"We can do nothing. This is because of the lack of sanctions
that can be imposed on recalcitrant state officials," Jusuf told
legislators at a hearing with House Commission II for law and
home affairs here.

Also attending the hearing were representatives of the
National Law Commission (KHN) and the Ombudsman Commission.

Unfortunately, many of the House members themselves have
ignored the commission's request to report their assets.

According to Jusuf, 168 of the House's 500 members were among
the errant public servants.

Presidential Decree No.127/1999, which serves as the legal
foundation for the KPKPN's existence, stipulates that the
Commission is responsible for auditing the wealth of all state
officials, the results of which audits are submitted to the
President and the House.

However, the KPKPN is powerless to force defiant legislators
to declare their assets as Law No. 28/1999 on clean governance
does not provide the commission with the power to impose stern
sanctions against defiant officials or compel them to submit
their declarations.

So far, legislators have given only a lukewarm response to the
KPKPN's appeal for them to submit their wealth declarations. Some
of them are proposing the setting up of a new anticorruption
body, with the audit commission being incorporated into it.

Jusuf also revealed in the hearing that his Commission had
found indications of irregularities in the assets declared by 32
state officials and expected that the Attorney General's Office
(AGO) would follow up on the findings.

He declined to reveal the irregularities or identify the
officials involved, saying only that they were from the
executive, judicial and legislative branches, as well as state-
owned enterprises.

"After signing an agreement with the Attorney General's Office
and the police, we will jointly assess these cases," Jusuf told
the media after the hearing.

The commission revealed that only 1,348 out of a total of
about 14,000 national and local legislators had declared their
wealth so far.

In the executive branch, only 41 percent of the 25,000 forms
distributed had been returned, including those from the military
and the police.

Meanwhile, chairman of the Ombudsman Commission Antonius
Sujata said that since its establishment in 2000, the commission
had received 511 reports from the public at large.

"At least 45 percent of these are reports about the
performance of the judiciary," he said.

Sujata, a former junior attorney general, emphasized that the
performance of the judiciary was a major focus of public concern.

He said he was trying to coordinate with the police, the
Attorney General's Office and the courts to improve the
performance of the judiciary.

"We need to convince the public that the courts are not to be
bought," Sujata said, referring to rampant corruption in the
judicial system.