The Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) has slapped a low confidence status on Jakarta's budget report for last year, after it discovered 169 irregularities totaling Rp 5.6 trillion (US$603.77 million).

The BPK's Jakarta office head, I Gde Kastawa, said Tuesday the irregularities might lead to corruption charges.

"The BPK cannot make sure whether the 2007 budget accounts are reliable and true. Therefore, we issued the disclaimer (the worst level of budget confidence grades)," he said in a city council plenary session, reporting the findings to councilors and city officials.

"The 2007 budget accounts are poorer than the 2006 budget accounts, which earned a qualified opinion (the second of four levels of budget confidence)," he said.

Kastawa said he would further investigate the irregularities to determine whether they could be classified as incidents of corruption.

The BPK found irregularities when its team tried to confirm accounts with the relevant working units at the administration.

"For example, we were unable to confirm a number of working units' fixed assets," Kastawa said.

"We did not know what the assets looked like and were unable to locate their whereabouts."

According to Kastawa, the findings included 38 cases of poor internal supervision and 66 cases against compliance, both which indicated losses and excluded city revenue amounting to Rp 13.17 billion and administrative flaws accounting for Rp 5.25 trillion.

He said his team found the irregularities in the financial bureau, the supplying bureau, the legal bureau, the revenue agency, the city's parks agency and a municipality parks agency, the housing agency, the sports and youth agency, the public works agency, a municipality sanitary agency, the mining agency, the cemetery agency and the city and museum agency, as well as the city bureau of capital investment and regional monetary management.

Other findings included 65 cases leading to losses amounting to Rp 4.1 billion, while administrative flaws came to Rp 334.56 billion, Kastawa said.

Those findings were discovered in the city transportation agency, a municipality transportation agency, the public service agency and busway operator TransJakarta, the basic education agency and the public works agency, he said.

Kastawa said the administration had clarified Rp 334.56 billion in administrative-related findings and Rp 4.8 billion relating to potential city losses and excluded revenue.

"Now, the administration has Rp 12.47 billion in findings indicating losses and excluded revenue, as well as Rp 5.25 trillion in administrative-related findings to follow up on," he said.

In response to the BPK reports, city secretary Muhayat said his office already had a commitment to good governance.

"Governor (Fauzi Bowo) will know what to do to his subordinates who are reluctant to make some improvements in their offices," he said.

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