KPK limits target of investigations
M. Taufiqurrahman and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Overwhelmed with data from state officials whose wealth reports need to be scrutinized, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) said on Sunday it would only look into reports that seemingly contained irregularities.
KPK deputy chairman Amien Sunaryadi said that given the commission's limited resources it would only probe the wealth reports of state officials that bore self-evident flaws.
"We will not examine the wealth reports that contain only minor errors. The investigation will also not be undertaken on the basis of the amount of wealth reported. However small the amount of wealth, we will look into it if there are irregularities," he told The Jakarta Post.
Amien said that in its investigation, the KPK would look at a sampling of the officials' wealth reports.
He also said that the commission would no longer publicly disclose the outcome of investigations as the Anticorruption Law did not allow it to do so.
"All results of the investigations would be made public through the state gazette and its appendix. It is up to the state secretariat to publish them," he said.
Amien said that apart from wealth reports from newly sworn-in ministers, the KPK was expecting the General Elections Commission (KPU) to hand over the bulk of the wealth reports of over 17,000 newly elected members of the House of Representatives and local legislative councils.
"The declaration of wealth is one of requirements submitted by the council members when they registered as candidates with the KPU, and we are only waiting for the commission to hand them over to us for auditing," he said.
As for the wealth reports of members of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's United Indonesia Cabinet, Amien said that it was too early to expect the ministers to submit them in the near future given the finite detail required.
"I think that the ministers are now still collecting necessary documents to be attached in their wealth reports and I am confident that all of them will submit them in time. Besides, they were only sworn-in last week," Amien said.
Law No. 28/1999 on good governance and Law No. 30/2002 on the antigraft commission requires state officials to declare their wealth before and after assuming office.
The laws require other state officials, including legislators, to submit their wealth reports to the KPK in a bid to maintain transparency and monitor possible irregularities.
However, the two laws stipulate no penalties for state officials who fail to disclose their wealth. Should state officials make false statements on their wealth reports, they would only be charged for making false reports.
Earlier on Friday, Cabinet Secretary Sudi Silalahi said that President Susilo set a one-week deadline for his ministers to declare their wealth.
Another KPK deputy chairman Sjahruddin Rasul said his commission sent forms to the ministers on Oct. 19 to publicly disclose their wealth.
Of all state officials, only Susilo and Vice President Jusuf Kalla have submitted their latest financial reports to the commission.
The KPK also said that none of members of former president Megawati Soekarnoputri's Cabinet have submitted their wealth reports to the antigraft commission, although their terms ended on Oct. 20.