Sri Mulyani's Statement About The DKI Jakarta Provincial Government's DBH Was Broken By The BPK

Chairman of BPK Agung Firman Sampurna (Photo: BPK.go.id

JAKARTA - In the midst of the corona virus pandemic or COVID-19, a polemic has emerged regarding the payment of Revenue Sharing Funds (DBH) from the central government to the regions. The Ministry of Finance said payments must wait for the results of an audit by the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK). However, this was denied by the BPK.

Chairman of BPK Agung Firman Sampurna, asked the Ministry of Finance (Kemenkeu) not to use the BPK audit as an excuse for not disbursing underpayments of DBH to local governments. Because, this has nothing to do with the BPK.

"There is no relationship between the payment of the Ministry of Finance's obligations to the DKI provincial government or any local government regarding underpayment of DBH and the BPK examination," he said, in a video conference with journalists, in Jakarta, Monday, May 11.

According to Agung, the BPK only performs the task of auditing state finances and the Ministry of Finance as managing state finances. For this reason, it is irrelevant to use BPK audits as the basis for DBH payments to local governments.

There are no payment rules pending a BPK audit

Agung said that neither the 1945 Constitution nor the Audit Law, the State Finance Law, and the Treasury Law did not stipulate that the payment of obligations, especially DBH, made by the Ministry of Finance or the central government must wait for the results of the BPK audit.

"Please the Ministry of Finance to make a decision to pay or not pay, it does not need to be connected with the BPK audit," he said.

For the disbursement of the DBH, BPK sent a letter to the Ministry of Finance on April 28, 2020. In the letter, the BPK explained that the audit duties carried out were not related to the disbursement of DBH by the Ministry of Finance.

"Please read the official letter that we convey to the Minister of Finance," he said.

Responding to this, Yustinus Prastowo, the Ministry of Finance's Special Staff, admitted that the DBH issue had no institutional link with the BPK institution. This means that there is no need for BPK approval for DBH payments to the regions.

According to Yustinus, what Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani wanted to convey was, in practice, the underpayment of DBH payments was based on LKPP that had been audited by the BPK so that the figure was certain.

"Thus, we hope that governance will be better, there is no need for adjustments if there are differences or changes in numbers or values," Yustinus told reporters.

Yustinus said, Ministry of Finance policies like that were of course also based on the consideration of encouraging local governments to refocus or reallocate budgets and allocate Unexpected Expenditures (BTT) to deal with this COVID-19.

The central government, he continued, would work together, coordinate and support the efforts of the Regional Governments to jointly handle the pandemic.

"Actually, the Ministry of Finance does not feel the need to polemicize with the BPK. So we need to emphasize that this has no institutional link, let alone impose a payment on the BPK's performance," he said.

Moreover, he said, the Chairman of the BPK had also written to the Minister of Finance to be able to make underpaid DBH payments and of course the Ministry of Finance would really consider it.

"What is clear is that 50 percent has now been paid and subsequently the letter from the BPK chairman will be taken into consideration while continuing to coordinate with the local government to refocus and reallocate the budget," he explained.

According to Yustinus, the statement of the Minister of Finance that said that the DBH underpayment must wait for the BPK audit was not intended to complicate the disbursement of the funds.

"It has been a practice for years not to make it difficult or to find problems, but simply to ensure that governance is better and more credible," he said.