BPK head calls for coordination

BPK head calls for coordination

Ridwan Max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) chairman Anwar Nasution has called for
better coordination among law enforcement and legal institutions
in a bid to make the antigraft drive more effective.

Anwar said that the institutions, including the National
Police, the Attorney General's Office (AGO), the Corruption
Eradication Commission (KPK), and the BPK had to give up engaging
in what he described as "civil war" among themselves if the
efforts to curb corruption were to bear fruit.

"We need strong coordination, especially as we have a limited
number of professional investigators, if we want to ensure
efficiency and effectiveness in carrying out our duties," he said
on Monday at the opening of a week-long workshop to devise
strategies to curb rampant corruption.

The opening ceremony was attended by National Police chief
Gen. Sutanto, KPK chairman Taufiqurrahman Ruki and a deputy to
the attorney general for special crimes, Hendarman Supanji.

Attorney General Abdurrahman Saleh failed to show up at the
workshop, something that was described by a BPK official as
reflecting the poor coordination between law enforcement and
legal institutions in the fight against graft.

Anwar conceded that the slow progress achieved to date in the
fight against corruption, and the fact that many corruption
suspects had managed to flee the country, had a lot to do with
weak coordination among law officers and the shortage of
professional investigators.

Anwar said that in a bid to help resolve human resources
problems, his office had employed a number of professional
investigators from overseas to train local investigators.

Elsewhere, he said that despite the lack investigators, and a
frequent lack of support from other law agencies and
institutions, the BPK had started to conduct investigative audits
and fraud audits in selected state-owned enterprises and state
institutions.

Anwar said that these two forms of audit were quite effective
in providing a comprehensive picture of financial irregularities
and misfeasance.

"The BPK is implementing the new audit system as part of our
investigations into corruption in the Ministry of Health,
Pertamina, PT PLN and the distribution of compensation funds to
the poor. The audit reports have been completed and will shortly
be handed over to the House of Representatives," he said.

In the past, the BPK's audits largely focused on the accounts
of the bodies being audited.