Jakarta – Indonesia's Supreme Audit Board said yesterday that government departments, including the presidential office, had misused 8.05 trillion rupiah (S$1.5 billion) last year.

In a report to the Lower House of Parliament, the board said that of the "irregularities" it had uncovered, the State Secretariat misused 51 per cent of the funds it received from the state and the Presidential Secretariat 58 per cent.

The figure for the Department of Settlement and Regional Infrastructure was 28 per cent, and the Department of Transportation and Telecommunications, 27 per cent.

The board defines the misuse of state funds as acts against the law, against the principles of efficiency, or against the principles of effectiveness.