KPKPN begins collecting data on legislators' wealth

KPKPN begins collecting data on legislators' wealth

JAKARTA (JP): The Audit Commission on Officials' Assets
(KPKPN) distributed forms on Tuesday for the House of
Representatives (DPR) legislators to collect data on their wealth
as state officials.

Speaking in a media conference after handing over the forms to
the House Speaker Akbar Tandjung, KPKPN Chairman Yusuf Syakir
said the forms should be returned to the commission within one
month.

"The data obtained will be put into the state gazette and the
public may find out about the wealth of the legislators and send
us notification if some legislators complete the forms with false
data," Yusuf told journalists.

He underlined that according to Law No. 28/1999 on clean
government, all state officials should declare their wealth,
otherwise administrative sanctions could be taken against them.

"In the form, the legislators have to state their bank
accounts, along with those of their spouse and children. If they
have more than one wife, they have to state that, too. Otherwise,
they will be considered as lying," Yusuf said.

He, however, admitted that for the legislators the commission
had limitations as no one could fire a legislator, while the
maximum administrative sanction is dismissal.

"To overcome our limited authority, we provide them with
another sealed form in which they agree that if they lie about
their wealth, they would be willing to be dismissed from their
position as a legislator," he said.

KPKPN's main duties are to audit the state officials' wealth.
If it finds irregularities during an audit, the case will be
handed over to the National Police and the Attorney General's
Office, which will be responsible for further investigation.

The commission was established last year, after the House
named 45 members of the commission on July 6. The commission is
required to audit around 500,000 officials, including the
president and the legislators.

"We have the right to hold an empirical audit to follow up
with the notification from the public, so we can double-check the
actual data with that stated in the forms filled in by the
legislators," Yusuf said.

"So, I urge the public to read the state gazette and notify us
if they know more information about the state officials' wealth,"
he added.

Yusuf also said that President Abdurrahman Wahid should return
his wealth declaration form on March 21, or one month after it
was provided for him.

"Then, we will publish the data in the state gazette so the
public can read it," he said. (dja)