Corruption 'most rampant at the top'
JAKARTA (JP): A former top government auditor said yesterday that corruption among Indonesian policy makers and high officials was the worst in the country and yet the most difficult to overcome because of the weak supervisory system.
Gandhi, a former head of the Government Financial Comptroller Agency (BPKP), noted the lack of transparency and public disclosures in corruption investigations did not help to prevent the recurrence of malfeasance.
Gandhi, now a member of the expert staff in the Supreme Audit Agency, was speaking at a discussion organized by the Center for Information and Development Studies (CIDES) on creating a clean government.
The meeting concluded that creating a clean government is crucial to rebuilding confidence in the crisis-hit economy, which was recently bailed out with a US$43 billion aid package brokered by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
"Our management supervision system is too weak to fight collusion and corruption," Gandhi said, adding that the current system could at best address only minor cases of malfeasance.
He pointed out that as chief of BPKP he had often tried to proceed with serious corruption cases in various government institutions, only to have his efforts thwarted by officials in higher positions.
"Investigations into serious cases of corruption could take three years to complete," he said, adding that the secretive nature of the investigation process failed to discourage people from indulging in corrupt activities.
Gandhi explained that among the various corrupt acts which high officials indulged in included proceeding with unnecessary projects; allocating projects with an inflated budget to well- connected contractors; forcing state-owned companies to buy shares in poorly performing companies owned by people close to the powerful elite; buying unnecessary supplies at higher prices; investing state money in banks which provide good commissions; selling state assets at lower prices or exchanging them for lower-valued private assets; and tax evasion through collusion.
BPKP announced in 1996 that the finance ministry had the worst record in terms of the amount of funds which were manipulated for corrupt purposes, including those related to tax payments.
Irregularities in the ministries of agriculture, home affairs, transportation, mines and energy, cooperatives, and industry and trade were also reported to be extensive.
Gandhi said that improving the performance of the Supreme Audit Agency (Bepeka) would help to curb rampant corruption among senior officials.
Under the 1945 Constitution, Bepeka is mandated to independently audit state finances and report its findings to the House of Representatives (DPR).
"Once a corruption case reaches the DPR, the accused officials would be nervous because then the case can be publicized through the media," he said, adding that such publicity would help discourage other people from committing similar crimes.
In an effort to stem malfeasance in the new cabinet, President Soeharto has ordered his 36 ministers, provincial governors and certain other officials to declare their personal wealth. However, the reports will be presented to the President alone.
"It's nonsense," said Christianto Wibisono, head of the Indonesia Data Business Center (PDBI), who also spoke at yesterday's gathering.
He said that a similarly closed reporting mechanism had been applied during the reign of the notorious French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, who would accept criticism provided it was given privately, and not publicized.
"In a modern system, a transparent and full disclosure mechanism is needed," he said, arguing that declarations on the wealth of top government officials should not merely be kept in the President's filling cabinet.
"The reports should be made available to the public because that would discourage corruption," Gandhi added.
Gandhi said there ought to be moves to change the current supervision system and make public disclosures commonplace in investigations into corruption. (08)