House rejects government's request for full PwC report

House rejects government's request for full PwC report

JAKARTA (JP): House of Representatives Speaker Akbar Tandjung
turned down on Monday the government's request for a copy of the
full PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) audit report into the Bank Bali
scandal.

Akbar said it would only be released to the government and
made public after it was studied by a joint House committee
specially set up to scrutinize the report.

"I have received the request letter from the government. But
we have already decided to have the report studied by the joint
committee first... The committee is scheduled to be set up on
Wednesday and begin deliberation sessions on Thursday or Friday.
It has until Dec. 15 to consider the matter," he told Antara.

Akbar recently assigned House Commission II for law and home
affairs and House Commission IX for financial and planning
affairs to form a joint committee to study the PwC report and to
decide whether to publish the report.

He said the government could still obtain the copy from the
National Police without having to wait for the House to complete
the study on the report.

"The police is the government's own apparatus. So if the
government wants, it can obtain the report from the police," he
added.

The Supreme Audit Agency (DPA) hired PwC last month to audit
the scandal, which allegedly involved close aides of former
president B.J. Habibie. The agency gave the full version of the
audit only to the police, while the House received its summary
report.

DPA initially refused to release the full PwC report to the
House, arguing that its publication would violate the country's
banking secrecy code.

The agency's refusal to hand over the full audit report caused
public controversy, prompting the Supreme Court to issue a Fatwa
(legal opinion) declaring that the release of the full PwC audit
result to the House would not break any law.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank and Asian
Development Bank suspended their loan disbursement for Indonesia
in September due to the delay of the publication of the full
audit report on the scandal.

The Bank Bali scandal centers around a Rp 546 billion (almost
US$80 million at current rate) fee paid in early June by Bank
Bali to a firm linked to the Golkar Party for its service to
recover claims from closed banks.

Bank Bali should not have used the intermediary in recovering
the funds as they were covered by the government guarantee on
bank deposits and claims.

The PwC audit report shows that Rp 15 billion of the Rp 546
billion fund involved in the scandal was transferred to the
account of Golkar's election committee in Jakarta.

The independent audit, commissioned by DPA at the request of
the IMF, also found numerous irregularities and indications of
fraud involving several senior officials and Golkar executives
during the processing and payment of the Bank Bali claims.

Akbar, who is also the chairman of Golkar, said the
appointment of the joint committee to study the PwC audit report
before its publication was only a matter of complying to existing
standard procedures.

"It is not in any way meant to impede the publication of the
report," he said, adding that the House could ask the committee
to speed up its deliberations.

Benny Pasaribu, a member of House Commission IX from the
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle faction, acknowledged the
strong will expressed by some legislators for the immediate
disclose of the report was blocked by the House's bureaucracy.

Separately, head of House Commission IX Sukowaluyo
Mintorahardjo called on the government to not be hesitant in
having the police deliver the full report so that it would be
able to quickly disclose it.

"For the sake of the nation, the government should not be
reluctant to disclose the report... There is no need to wait for
the House to complete the study," he said, adding that the
government needs to have a firm political will to enable it to
unravel the case. (cst)