State budget graft more than $280 million in 2001
State budget graft more than $280 million in 2001
Dadan Wijaksana, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) found last year 1,076 cases of
irregularities in the state budget, which potentially caused a
total of Rp 2.8 trillion (around US$280 million) in losses to the
country.
The figures were revealed by the agency's chairman Satrio B.
Judono to the legislators during a House of Representatives
plenary session.
The findings come only a day after the State Development
Finance Comptroller (BPKP) reported the discovery of some Rp 2.5
trillion in misused state funds in state institutions during the
same year.
This serves as more evidence that the country's half-hearted
efforts to stamp out graft and corruption have again proven
fruitless.
Since, the start of the reform era in 1998 -- which was marked
by the downfall of the corrupt regime of former president
Soeharto -- pledges to eradicate corruption in the country had
been made by each successive administration.
As time goes by however, it has become clear that little real
action has been taken.
Thursday's report stated, of the total findings in 2001, the
largest amount of state funds, totaling more than Rp 1 trillion,
had been misused by state-owned enterprises.
The amount was by far lower than that of the previous year's,
when state-owned enterprises were reported to have abused a
staggering Rp 87 trillion of state funds.
"That huge figure in 2000 was mostly comprised of state banks'
loans being transferred to the Indonesian Bank Restructuring
Agency (IBRA) that have turned bad," Judono explained.
Throughout 2001, most of the irregularities were in the
category of "deviations from law", and totaled 450 cases,
followed by "deviations from a set of objects" which totaled 321
cases.
Ranking third was "cases of failure to comply with austerity
and efficiency", which totaled 305.
The agency, in its report, did not provide examples of the
category terms.
BPK said in the 2001 state budget that irregularities on the
revenue side totaled 44 cases amounting to Rp 172 billion in
potential losses.
On the expenditure front, 462 cases of financial abuses were
found, causing Rp 140 billion in losses.
Regional administration budgets (APBD) also recorded 302 cases
of abuse, from which the country lost Rp 177 billion.
In the meeting, Judono also said that the report had yet to
represent the actual amount of losses the country might have
suffered, as only a portion of the government institutions gave
their full support to the process.
"It seems that efforts to minimize state losses have gotten
only a little attention from related parties, even though the
agency had issued direct and indirect directives," he said.