Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta – An antigraft watchdog called on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to probe allegations of the misuse of Rp 89.5 billion (US$10.4 million) in travel allowances in 44 government offices as reported by the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK).
A BPK audit into the 2010 Government Financial Report (LKPP) including on travel allowances will officially be published in August.
The Indonesian Forum for Budget Transparency (Fitra), which has obtained a copy of the audit, said, that the BPK findings indicated that money allocated for travel allowances had "now become a source of graft for government officials".
"We also ask Yudhoyono to order Finance Minister [Agus Martowardojo] to trace the use of travel allowances in the 2011 budget, which is prone to embezzlement," Fitra network development division head Hadi Prayitno told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.
He said such concrete moves were needed to prevent the misuse of state funds as well as to comply with the 2011 presidential decree on reducing government spending.
In 2010, the government allocated Rp 19.5 trillion from the state budget for travel allowances, up from Rp 12.7 trillion in 2009. This year, the government has set aside Rp 20.9 trillion for travel allowances.
The BPK, Hadi said, found that the misappropriation of travel allowances in 33 government institutions in 2009 reached Rp 73.5 billion.
"We see that as more funds are allocated for travel allowances, more is misused by government officials," he said, adding that fraudulent data such as fictitious trip reports, doctored bookkeeping and fake tickets were used.
Fitra also called on ministers and heads of government institutions to take stern measures against officials who abused the system. "Instructing them to return the money is not enough. There must be legal repercussions," Hadi said.
Fitra called on the House of Representatives to summon Finance Ministry officials to clarify the BPK finding to improve transparency and accountability of the government in managing the state budget.
"Each of the House's Commission should also summon their working partners in the government to address the misappropriations of travel allowances," Hadi said.
A legislator from House Commission XI overseeing finance and budget matters promised to bring the issue up with government officials.
"If the BPK report is correct, we will cut allocations for travel allowances in 2012 to ministries or institutions found to have misused the funds," Arif Budiman from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) told the Post.