Police denies causing state losses

Police denies causing state losses

P.C. Naommy, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) report that questionable police
auditing procedures had "lost" Rp 7.1 billion of public money
last year, was rejected by the National Police on Tuesday.

The Inspector General for the police's General Supervision
Body (Itwasum), Comr. Gen. Binarto said the BPK's original report
was incomplete.

Binarto said limited resources were to blame for the
department's inability to annually audit all working units in
provincial police departments across the country.

"It's understandable that the BPK isn't able to audit all
working units in Polri (National Police), as we, as (the
police's) internal auditors, couldn't do so either," Binarto
said.

He said the BPK's findings only indicated "potential" losses,
not any real losses to the country.

Police had since supplied the BPK with updated information on
the new units, which meant more money from the state budget was
accounted for.

"We have already updated the BPK's first half-year report,
which it has accepted, so during the first half-year we believe
all public money was properly accounted for," Binarto said.

The BPK has audited seven police departments across the
country. Four of the audits were conducted during the first half-
of last year, while another three were done in the second half.

An earlier audit found a total of Rp 12.67 billion in
accounting irregularities for the 2003 fiscal year. However, the
BPK cleared Rp 9.07 billion of these losses after police
submitted additional documents.

Binarto admitted there were still potential losses amounting
to Rp 3.6 billion for the second semester.

"We have also submitted an adjustment to BPK's second half-
year audit by completing financial accountability reports. Now we
are waiting for the BPK's response," Binarto said.

The police did not anticipate any likelihood of rejection of
the revised report.

"We have found that most of the irregularities found by the
BPK are caused by the lack of adherence to accounting procedures
by police personnel who have not presented their financial
accountability reports," Binarto said.

A lack of funding has also caused confusion within the
police's supervisory body. Itwasum had earlier maintained it
still needed to recheck the BPK audits to ensure they were valid.
It has also said it would not audit working units already audited
by the BPK for reasons of cost-efficiency.