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.