Fund misuse report upsets minister

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.