|
In another move to further curb the practice of opening
secretive government bank accounts, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani
Indrawati called on the country's banks Wednesday to refuse to open any
new government accounts without her consent.
"We have asked the banks to refuse to open any accounts on behalf of
the government prior to receiving the explicit approval of the finance
minister," Mulyani said, adding that her ministry was working with Bank
Indonesia, the industry regulator, to ensure the call was heeded.
Speaking to government officials and bank executives Wednesday, Mulyani
further said that the Finance Ministry would now only allow revenue
collection and payment accounts to be opened by the treasury units of
government institutions. Bank accounts for the pooling of guarantee
funds for government development projects would also be allowed.
"What's important now is that every account must be reported -- stating
clearly what they are for, on behalf of what agency they have been
opened, information on funds transfers, and in whose names the accounts
are held," she said.
Mulyani said that most of the accounts had in fact been explained,
although she acknowledged that dubious accounts might continue to crop
up due to a lack of awareness on the part of officials about the need
to report them.
"That's why we have to continuously inform and remind state officials
and the banks about this," she said.
The existence of such accounts has become a problem for the government
as it strives to apply the principles of good governance to its
finances, with the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) annually raising the
issue in its yearly audits of the government's budget accounts. In
fact, the secretive bank account issue is one of the reasons why the
watchdog has slapped disclaimers on the budget accounts for the past
five years.
In its audits between 2004 and 2006, the BPK found 4,656 undeclared
accounts containing Rp 31.2 trillion (US$3.4 billion) in public funds.
In 2004, the BPK discovered 957 government-related bank accounts
holding Rp 20 trillion that had not been declared in the government's
annual budget accounts. This figure rose to 1,303 accounts containing
Rp 8.5 trillion in 2005, and 2,396 accounts containing Rp 2.7 trillion
in 2006.
In addition, the Finance Ministry itself as of February had traced
2,169 of dubious accounts holding Rp 9.12 trillion.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has ordered all government
departments to take firm action against such accounts, many of which
are appear to be a legacy of the past that are used to pool off-budget
funds raised from improper levies imposed on the public, bribes and
kickbacks
Following up on BPK's findings and the President's directive, the
Finance Ministry issued two special regulations earlier this June to
tackle the problem.
As a preventive measure, the first requires state institutions to seek
the ministry's approval before opening government-related accounts,
while the second allows it to close existing accounts that are deemed
superfluous.
"We expect to soon issue a government regulation specifically dealing
with the matter, so as to better enforce the rules," Mulyani said.
"There will be sanctions ranging from administrative ones to criminal
prosecutions depending on the gravity of the situation."
Bank Mandiri director Abdul Rachman welcomed the Finance Ministry's
call for support from the banks to help put the government's accounts
in order, adding that his bank would immediately investigate such
accounts in line with the regulations. State-owned Mandiri manages some
2,0000 of these accounts.
|
