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)