Susilo's anticorruption drive disappointing: KPK

Susilo's anticorruption drive disappointing: KPK

Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Eleven months after taking over the presidency, Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono's pledges to curb corruption within government
agencies, particularly the tax and customs services, have not
being realized, according to the Corruption Eradication
Commission (KPK).

"The commission is very disappointed with the government's
efforts to prevent corruption. Its efforts and its determination
have yet to show progress," KPK Chairman Taufiqurrahman Ruki said
after meeting the President on Wednesday.

The meeting was held to allow the KPK put forward its views
and evaluation of the government's anticorruption drive, which was
labeled by the commission as "very slow and lacking commitment
from the President's aides".

Taufiqurrahman called on the government to speed up the
anticorruption drive in the country's most corrupt institutions;
the Directorate General of Taxation and the Directorate General
of Customs and Excise. Both institutions come under the
supervision of the Ministry of Finance.

"There have been so much leakage from the tax and customs
services as a result of collusion between taxpayers and
officials. Our preliminary investigation shows that big fish
corruptors are still sniffing at the doors of both services," he
said.

A survey by Transparency International Indonesia in February
revealed that customs service was the country's most corrupt
institution.

The country has been relying on revenues from taxes and excise
duties for the past five years to help finance government
expenditure. This year's budget envisages 85 percent of revenues
being contributed by taxes and excise duties.

Based on the budget, the government hopes to collect Rp 331.8
trillion (US$32.8 billion) in taxes and excise duties this year
and some Rp 402.1 trillion next year.

Analysts believe that the government could net more than Rp
500 trillion in tax and excise revenue this year by improving tax
collection administration and tackling corruption.

The KPK also emphasized the need for the government to reform
the public procurement system as it found that leakage in this
area often amounted to more than 30 percent of the procurement
value.

"There has been no sign of seriousness from ministers, the
heads of government agencies and state enterprise executives in
preventing procurement leakage or securing revenue for the
state," said Taufiqurrahman.

The KPK also highlighted a lack of coordination between the
National Police and the Attorney General's Office in
investigating and bringing prosecutions in corruption cases.

"Aside from poor coordination, the money allocated for
processing corruption case in these two institutions is too low,
about Rp 2.5 million per case. President Susilo should seriously
address these problems," Taufiqurrahman said.

Cabinet Secretary Sudi Silalahi said Susilo acknowledged his
anticorruption drive was still far from achieving its goal and
promised to speed up the efforts.

"The President responds positively to the KPK input and
expresses his dissatisfaction over the current anticorruption
efforts of his aides. The government will intensify its efforts
and remain consistent to its goals," he said.