BPK to get more investigative powers
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
In order to give the nation's fight against corruption a boost, the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) and the government agreed on Tuesday to widen the former's authority in revealing irregularities in the disbursement of state budgets.
BPK chairman Anwar Nasution said on Tuesday that based on the agreement the agency would provide detailed audit reports and would track down the use of non-budgetary funds and spending in state-run foundations.
"Investigative audits will hand over details of findings to the police to use, and determine the level of state losses and possible parties taking the advantage of the irregularities," Anwar said after a meeting at Vice President Jusuf Kalla's office.
In the past, non-budgetary funds and spending by state foundations were prone to mark-ups and corruption due to a lack of transparency.
Anwar said the move was expected to speed up police investigations into the irregularities discovered by his office.
The BPK reports its findings to the House of Representatives every semester. Instead of following up on problems, however, many departments and agencies simply deny the reports.
The commitment to change was agreed to during a coordination meeting between the government, Attorney General Abdul Rahman Saleh, BPK and Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) executives on Tuesday.
The meeting was aimed at identifying measures that would ensure that all state agencies were free from corrupt practices, and accelerating police responses to BPK reports.
"In the past, many BPK findings were simply put on the shelf because of the long processes required for the police to audit the budget first. We would like to cut through this bureaucracy," KPK chairman Taufiqurrahman Ruki said after the meeting.
Except for the misuse of Bank Indonesia Liquidity Loans, many BPK findings have never reached court, due to lack of energy and commitment from law enforcement agencies.
"There were cultural and institutional barriers stalling investigations, making the police unable to use BPK reports as evidence in court," Taufiqurrahman said.
The anti-corruption drive is high on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's agenda. Now three months in office, Susilo has issued permits for law enforcers to probe corruption cases involving at least 29 regents and governors.
The President has issued Instruction No. 5/2004 that spells out specific assignments for various ministries and offices to get tough with corruption.
The meeting at the vice presidential office was to agree to a plan of action to implement the presidential instruction as soon as possible.
The meeting also agreed to form a team to review and evaluate the standing regulations to ensure transparency in the state budget and legal measures against corruption.
Abdul Rahman said the team would also discuss a witness protection program, assets tracing, as well as presidential permits to question state officials.
"The small team will identify the regulations required to enable more effective investigations in the future," Abdul Rahman said.
However, there was no time frame for the formation of the team.