By Andi Abdussalam
Jakarta, June 27 (ANTARA) - The Development Finance Comptroller (BPKP)'s plan to audit the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has sparked controversy with experts saying the move would weaken the anti-graft body while the BPKP had no right to audit a state institution outside the executive branch of government.
However, BPKP chief Didi Widayanti said his agency would go ahead with its plan to audit KPK despite resistance from many parties. "The audit will not be an institutional but a financial one," he said on Friday.
The BPKP mentioned its plan to audit the anti-corruption agency only one day after President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was reported as saying during a visit to the office of Kompas daily on Wednesday that KPK had become a "super body."
Observers and media reports immediately linked the BPKP move with president's statement as an attempt to weaken the KPK's role in fighting corruption, an allegation that Yudhoyono has denied.
"I was surprised to hear reports from ministers and staff and to see media reports stating as if the president had ordered the BPKP to audit the KPK. There has never been an order from the President for the BPKP to audit KPK," he said at a press conference on Friday.
He said there had been media reports in the past few days alleging the President had ordered the BPKP to audit KPK. "BPKP audits internal administrative offices. It is not the authority of BPKP to audit a state institution not under the authority of the President," he said.
He said he had so far never received reports from the BPKP chief regarding the issue and therefore was not aware of such a discourse developing among the people. "It is not true and no such thing happened," he said.
The President said he had already ordered the minister/state secretary and other officials concerned to seek a clarifications and make checks on the reports.
With regard to the BPKP move, corruption criminal observer Saldi Isra said there was an attempt to weaken the performance of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) in its fight against corruption crimes, an observer said.
"I can see many efforts being made now to weaken the KPK," corruption criminal observer Saldi Isra said during a dialog on corruption issues and presidential campaigns on Saturday.
In fact, the BPKP step to audit KPK is a wrong step. Saldi said that BPKP had no authority to audit KPK because KPK was an independent institution which was not responsible to the president. "The BPKP could only audit an institution within the executive branch of government," Saldi, a constitutional law expert, said.
The same voice was also raised by Abdullah Hehamahua, an adviser of KPK. He said that KPK was a state institution outside the BPKP's authority to audit. "KPK is a state institution, not a government agency so that it could not be audited by BPKP," he stressed. He said that BPKP could only supervise the use of state money by an institution under the president.
According to Saldi Isra, efforts to weaken KPK's performance had actually been made even before the BPKP move to audit it. The efforts among others were made through formal legal and political interventions.
Saldi said several judicial reviews on the corruption eradication law and the law on KPK were formal legal interventions that could weaken the efforts to eradicate corruption. Besides, political institutions also often intervened into various KPK's authorities, for example questioning its authority to tap activities in government agencies.
"There are many steps taken by KPK which are always questioned," Saldi said.
On the opinion that KPK is a super body, Hehamahua denied it. "Many people said that KPK was a super body while in reality it is not," he said.
KPK is bound by the law in carrying out its tasks. For example, the anti-graft body has to ask permission from the court before it could search a person's quarters. KPK could not investigate a corruption case which did not involve state officials. It could only investigate a case which caused a loss to the state of Rp1 billion and over. "So, how could KPK be a super body?" he said.
Yudhoyono was reported to have said on Wednesday that a too strong power was dangerous and must not go unchecked. He viewed that KPK had become a super body.
"In connection with KPK, I have often warned that power must not go unchecked," he said when he visited daily Kompas.
Chairuman Harahap, a campaign team coordinator of Jusuf Kalla - Wiranto presidential ticket competing Yudhoyono in the upcoming election, said the SBY statement reflected the inconvenience with KPK. "Those in power now feel inconvenient," Harahap said.
He said that all parties should not worry about the existence and authority of KPK. The anti-graft body was an institution which was established based on the law. "KPK is within the control of the people and the law," Harahap said.
Yudoyono's success team member Nursyahbani Katjasoengkana said that Yudhoyono had no intention to weaken KPK. The people should look at Yudhoyono's statement in the whole context. His statement, she said, referred to the power in general when he said all powers must not go unchecked. "So, there is no intention to weaken KPK," Katjasoengkana said.
The BPKP plan to audit KPK is beyond the knowledge of Yudhoyono in his capacity as the president.
Earlier in the day, several non-governmental organizations urged President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to reprimand strongly the BPKP chief who would audit the KPK on behalf of the president.
The NGOs grouped in the Coalition to Save Corruption Eradication Efforts urged the head of state to stop all kinds of efforts to weaken the KPK's authority.
The NGOs include the Legal Aid Institute (LBH), the Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW), the Independent Institute for Judiciary, the Consortium of National Law Reform (KRHN), and the Center of Law and Policy Studies. ***4*** (T.A014/A/HAJM/19:45/A014) (T.A014/A/A014/A/A014) 27-06-2009 19:55:29
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