BPKP preparing bill to ensure audit independency

JAKARTA (JP): The Development Finance Comptroller (BPKP) is preparing a draft law to ensure greater independency in its audit work over state-owned enterprises and government budgetary spending, the agency's senior executive said on Thursday.

Head of the agency's research and development, S. Heroetomo, said that the internal audit agency needed to be more independent and be given authority to speak directly to the public about what it finds and does during its work.

"If the bill is approved, the auditing process will be more efficient and the agency will have the power to monitor the handling of fraud or malfeasance discovered during the audit," he said.

He said the agency's main task at present was limited only to auditing state institutions and budget spending, while follow-ups of its findings were handled by institutions where the findings were found.

He said that the draft law, which should be approved by the President before being submitted to the House of Representatives (DPR), would become an important legal instrument because under it, all findings of malfeasance would be firmly dealt with.

Under the draft legislation, the internal audit agency would also be allowed to announce its findings to the public, he said.

Heroetomo said that people in general were still thinking that BPKP was not doing anything against corruption in the country. "They think so because they were never informed of BPKP activities, he added.

"BPKP has a bad image because there is no transparency on what we are doing or have done during operations to fight against corruption," he said.

He said that BPKP worked on finding cases of irregularities and malfeasance involving state wealth. But the agency could not announce these findings directly to the public, he added.

The findings were instead submitted to the related government institution or the Attorney General's Office (for corruption cases).

He said that it was up to the related government institution or the Attorney General's Office to follow up on the reports.

From its establishment, based on 1983 Presidential Decree No. 15, until March 1997, BPKP found irregularities and malfeasance worth Rp 12.28 trillion.

"About 60 percent of our findings between 1983 and 1997 were followed up by the parties where the findings were found," he said.

Heroetomo rejected, however, to give recent figures in BPKP audit reports between March 1997 and April 1999.

BPKP deputy chairman Soekardi Hoesodo said the statistics showed that at least ten percent of the 4 million Indonesian civil servants were corrupt.

Corruption was done, he said, by at least two people and contained a mutual benefit principle, even though it was at the state's expense. (udi)