BPK calls for concrete action to fight corruption
BPK calls for concrete action to fight corruption
JAKARTA (JP): The Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) has called on the
government to take concrete action in preventing future financial
irregularities in state finances.
BPK's chief, Satrio B. Judono, said on Friday, "What we are
waiting for is concrete actions, not self-defense."
He said that the first step toward the eradication of
corruption was acknowledgement that the irregularities had
happened.
"If our report (of irregularities) is met with a self-
defensive attitude, surely the steps taken to prevent future
violations won't be significant," Judono said.
The report on BPK's audit of the 1999/2000 budget and the
financial accounts of several state companies conducted in the
first semester of this year discovered 1,933 instances of
deviations from budgetary rules and irregularities in financial
management, involving Rp 3.3 trillion (US$371 million).
The auditors also found irregularities involving over Rp 1
trillion in potential losses to the state.
The BPK report did not specifically allege corruption or
embezzlement but implicitly divided the discrepancies into
deviation from the law, noncompliance with austerity and
efficiency, and deviation from a set of objectives.
BPK said that in 2000, the largest number of irregularities
were found at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (32.82 percent),
followed by the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (31.27
percent).
On the revenue side, the Ministry of Health recorded the
largest number of irregularities, followed by the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
The report was met with self defense in many of the ministries
mentioned in the report.
The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, where BPK found
irregularities involving almost Rp 79 billion, had said that the
BPK report was outdated as it did not include clarifications and
corrections made at a follow-up meeting with BPK auditors.
According to Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo
Yusgiantoro, projects under construction often cannot fully meet
budgetary rules or procedures due to unexpected problems in the
field, such as delays in the delivery of materials or equipment,
or land acquisition.
However, Judono said that an audit leaves no room for
tolerance and regardless of the reasons behind the aberrations or
deviations from rules, such findings must be reported.
"We work under a zero tolerance policy, we are obligated to
report to the public every irregularity that we find regardless
of how small the amount or whether it inflict losses," he
said.(tnt)