Come Tuppance ... With a wholesale
clear out of public prosecutors who've been caught (through phonetaps) with their hands out, there are mutterings that all the public exposures of formerly immune supposedly public servants are to show SBY in a good light as there's a Presidential Election next year.
Cynic though I am - whoever you vote for, the government gets in - I tend to think that maybe, just maybe, SBY is in favour of
reformasi and is letting various public bodies fulfil both their mandates and public expectations.
The
Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) is certainly proving that it's not some toothless quango (quasi-autonomous non-government organisation) with yet another legislator, the fifth this year, being nabbed red-handed in a shopping mall carrying $66,000 and €5,500 in cash.
Another one I've had my eye on is the
Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) which, given the public knowledge and experience of malfeasance in all branches of the legislature and judiciary, the supposed lawmakers and law upholders, you'd expect would be riddled with corruption.
Last week, the BPK issued their
audit of City Hall's 2007 budget. They placed it in the "lowest confidence" category after finding numerous irregularities in the city's bookkeeping.
They found 169 irregularities totalling over Rp 5.6 trillion (US$604 million).
Pause a while and consider those figures.
Discrepancies were found in the administration of a number of agencies, including the financial bureau, the revenue agency, the city's parks agency, the housing agency, the public works agency, the mining agency, the city transportation agency, the basic education agency and busway operator TransJakarta.Apart from wondering what a mining agency does in a capital city built on a flood plain, I also wonder if there are any agencies not mentioned. I suspect there aren't any.
The BPK Jakarta office head, I Gde Kastawa, said Tuesday his team found the irregularities while trying to confirm accounts with relevant working units at the administration."For example, we were unable to confirm a number of working units' fixed assets," he said. "We did not know what the assets looked like nor did we know of their whereabouts." What I'd like to know is how they know there are these fixed assets. Presumably they were declared by each agency, but why do so if there is no proof of their existence?
I'd also like to know how Deputy Governor Prijanto concluded that there were no corruption indications in budget expenditure last year.
"It's all about administrative errors," he said. Quite, and wasn't Fuzzy Bodoh City Hall's admin chief before getting himself elected Governor?
Still, not to worry. In response to the BPK reports,
city secretary Muhayat said his office already had a commitment to good governance."Governor Fauzi Bowo will know what to do to his subordinates who are reluctant to make some improvements in their offices." We cynics could very well get sued for defamation if we mention office stationary, so I won't.
Except ......
Breaking news: FB's predecessor, Gen (ret.) Sutiyoso is being questioned today by the Jakarta Prosecutor's Office "
as a witness" involving the procurement of vehicle tax forms.
City Secretary Muhayat said the administration was ready to provide legal aid for Sooty, another candidate in next year's presidential election.Go figure.
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