MTI urges Sutiyoso to seriously look into Rp 820b irregularities
MTI urges Sutiyoso to seriously look into Rp 820b irregularities
Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Indonesian Transparency Society (MTI) said Governor Sutiyoso
was ultimately responsible for irregularities in the
administration uncovered by the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK).
"The leader of any institution is responsible for what is done
by his subordinates, so the governor should tell the head of each
working unit to pay serious attention to the findings (by the
BPK)," MTI chairman Sudirman Said told The Jakarta Post on
Sunday.
Sudirman was commenting on an announcement by the BPK that it
had uncovered about Rp 820 billion (US$97.62 million) in
financial irregularities at eight institutions under the city
administration's control and in four city-owned enterprises.
The findings were based on the BPK's audit of routine and
developmental expenses in the 2001 and 2002 budgets at the eight
institutions and the 2001 and 2002 books at the four city-owned
companies.
City Audit Agency (Bawasda) chairman Firman Hutajulu played
down the BPK's findings, saying such irregularities should not be
interpreted as indications of corruption. He said the
irregularities could be mere procedural and administrative
errors.
Sudirman criticized Firman for trying to simplify and brush
off the irregularities. He said these kinds of statements
usually indicated a city official trying to cover up mistakes.
"If they (Bawasda) worked well, they would have detected the
irregularities in the use of taxpayer money by institutions under
the city administration's control," Sudirman told the Post.
He said if existing control mechanisms worked well
irregularities and corruption in government agencies could be
curbed, pointing to fact that there were numerous institutions
whose task it was to supervise the administration, including BPK,
the development and financial audit agency (BPKP), Bawasda and
inspectorate offices.
The commitment of the top leaders in the administration to
fighting corruption is key for eradicating corruption, collusion
and nepotism, Sudirman added.
The difficulty in fighting corruption in the bureaucracy,
Sudirman said, is that there is a lack of commitment to dealing
with the issue because officials are reluctant to punish those
guilty of the crime.
"It is easy to see why corruption in the bureaucracy cannot be
curbed, as officials who frequently commit the offense are never
punished by their bosses," Sudirman said.
Meanwhile, the chairman of the City Council's Commission D for
development affairs, Koeswadi Soesilohardjo, stressed the need
for the city administration to follow up on the BPK report to see
if any crimes were committed.
An investigation would help determine whether the
irregularities were the result of corruption or were merely
administrative and procedure mistakes, he said.
"If the governor does not follow up on the findings, it could
lead to suspicion that he was involved in the irregularities
committed by his subordinates," Koeswadi said, adding that if
there was adequate evidence of corruption the suspects should be
taken to court.
According to recent reports, there are a number of outstanding
corruption cases allegedly involving city officials. Almost none
of these cases have ended up in the courts. In a few cases
several low-ranking officials received administrative sanctions,
but their supervisors were untouched.