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.