Fund misuse report upsets minister

M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A report on irregularities in the use of state funds has infuriated Minister of Social Affairs Bachtiar Chamsyah, who threatened to sue the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) for defamation.

In its audit report on the accounts of government institutions in the 2001 and 2002 fiscal years, the BPK revealed irregularities amounting to Rp 456.3 trillion (US$60 billion), almost Rp 29 billion of which was concerned with the social affairs ministry.

Claiming that he had issued regulations to control the use of funds, Bachtiar said he would resign if the irregularities were proven.

Bachtiar, an executive of the United Development Party, took office in August 2001 following the rise of Megawati Soekarnoputri to power,

The minister said he regretted the fact that the audit agency made no prior clarification with the ministry before presenting the report to the House of Representatives on Tuesday.

He said that the BPK should have consulted the inspectorate general of the ministry he heads.

But BPK director Satrio B. Judono played down Bachtiar's threat, saying the minister was overreacting. Satrio, a former minister of trade, said the agency had conducted a proper audit.

The BPK official in charge of the auditing of presidential affairs, social affairs, religious affairs and non-ministerial affairs said the report had been submitted to the ministry for action many times before it was publicly disclosed.

"On December 4 last year, we, in the first place, gave the report to the ministry for its response," Mukron told The Jakarta Post by telephone. The BPK, he said, had given the ministry around 80 days to follow up on the report.

The agency, Mukron said, had also met the ministry's inspector general, Maman Supriatman, who headed an internal audit late in February.

"During the meeting we exchanged our reports, but because each of us is an independent agency, we are not required to use each other's reports," he said.

Mukron said that because the ministry made no response to the report during the time allotted, the BPK then had the duty to bring the report before the House.

He said the dispute between BPK and the Ministry of Social Affairs could have been avoided had the minister have responded earlier to the report.