City auditors defend their disregard for misused funds

City auditors defend their disregard for misused funds

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Jakarta Audit Agency has insisted, amid harsh criticisms from
urban activists and city councillors on its performance, that it
merely served as an internal auditor for the city administration.

"As an internal auditor, we handle any irregularities found in
city agencies as long as they (irregularities) are related to
administrative affairs," agency head Firman Hutajulu said on
Friday, adding that it did not take further action against those
city institutions that returned the abused funds.

"If the agencies return the unused money, there's no need to
report the irregularities to the police or the prosecutor's
office, is there?" he said.

Non-governmental organization the Jakarta Residents Forum
(Fakta) had earlier questioned the agency's decision not to
report irregularities to the appropriate authorities.

"The number of public complaints over alleged irregularities
at (city) agencies are increasing, but not one case has been
reported to the authorities," Fakta chairman Azas Tigor
Nainggolan said.

Councillor Syamsidar Siregar of Commission E overseeing
people's welfare pointed out the agency's failure to submit
copies of its audit results to the council.

"The bylaw stipulates that the audit agency must submit copies
of its audit report to the council and the governor every three
months," she said, referring to Article 127(i) of Bylaw No.
3/2001 on city agencies.

In the past five years, the agency has neglected to submit
copies of its audit report to the council, which, in turn, never
requested the outstanding reports.

Firman said the agency did not submit the audit report to the
council since there was no "clear mechanism" regulating the
issue.

He cited Gubernatorial Decree No. 124/2002 on organization and
job descriptions of the audit agency, which stipulates that the
original audit report must be submitted directly to the governor
and a copy to the city council, "if necessary".

"To date, there are no details as to those conditions that
deem it 'necessary' for us to submit our report to the council,"
he said.

Councillor Agus Darmawan of Commission B for economic affairs
urged the agency to follow the bylaw rather than the
gubernatorial decree.

"If there is a contradiction between the two rulings, the
regulation drawn by the higher institution becomes legally
binding," he said.

The administration allocated Rp 40 billion (US$4.65 million)
from its 2003 budget for the operational costs of the audit
agency.