Anita Rachman – The Supreme Audit Agency has hit back at sharp criticism from the House of Representatives, saying it is willing to get its Bank Century's audit reviewed by a foreign agency to prove it did its job effectively.
The chairman of the agency known as the BPK, Hadi Purnomo, said the House could pick representatives from any countries it wished to act as the agency's peer reviewer.
"We will propose it to the House. Members can choose any countries. They then should write a letter to the appointed country's top audit agency," he said. "So far, we have been peer reviewed by two countries, the Netherlands and New Zealand. The results were good."
The BPK was lambasted by the House last week for its forensic investigation of the controversial Rp 6.7 trillion ($737 million) bailout of Bank Century. The House claimed the BPK audit was unsatisfactory because it lacked new findings. The BPK handed in a report contained 13 findings, including seven irregularities that the BPK had already reported.
"The idea of inviting an audit agency from oversees to review the BPK's work is too much. Let us just solve it here, in the country. Don't bring in a second party from another country," United Development Party (PPP) lawmaker Arwani Thomafi said.
As well as criticizing the BPK's audit for its lack of new findings, members of the House said the BPK must able to account for the Rp 6.7 trillion bailout. "Where did the money go?" asked Bambang Soesatyo, a Golkar Party lawmaker on the House's Bank Century committee.
Deputy BPK chairman Hasan Bisri said the agency had explained in the report where the bailout money went. "Anyone who said [the report] was shallow only read the summary. Had they read the [complete report], they would be dizzy. It was very complicated," he said.
The BPK had said that it was prevented from gaining more information on the flow of money.
Among the constraints were the fact that several key people involved in the Bank Century case were now missing, that some of transactions occurred overseas and that Bank Century lacked data on some transactions. Documents about Antaboga Delta Sekuritas, an affiliate brokerage to the bank, were stored by the Capital Market and Financial Institution Supervisory Agency (Bapepam-LK).
Hadi said the BPK could not interfere with Bapepam-LK because the supervisory agency was subject to its own law. That meant the House had to act if it sought the agency's involvement.
Hadi said the BPK had handed the audit result to the police, Attorney General's Office and the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) on Thursday, expecting the three to follow up on it.
Bambang insisted the BPK was just looking for excuses. He said that when the House investigated the Bank Century bailout, the House obtained documents from Bank Indonesia by asking a court to issue a permit.