43 dubious accounts at ministry: Nuh

National Education Minister Mohammad Nuh confirmed on Thursday that there were 43 dubious bank accounts at the ministry.

“You can be sure that even if the accounts are not formally registered it does not mean the money is used offhandedly. I have already asked for them to be registered [with the Finance Ministry),” Nuh said as quoted by kompas.com.

The accounts had not been registered with the Finance Ministry due to different deadlines for the academic year and finalizing the state budget.

“The state budget for next year was allocated mid-year, while the income from [state] universities will only be received around August and September. Therefore some of the accounts could not be registered and were not recorded in the state budget mechanism,” Nuh said.

The problem was incomplete administration and not a lack of accountability, he said.

The Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) announced on Wednesday that there were 43 unregistered accounts at state universities including two at Semarang Polytechnic worth Rp 146.24 million ($US117,000), one account at Lampung University (Rp. 8.34 million) and four accounts at Jakarta State Polytechnic (Rp 1.32 billion).

Another accounts were found at Semarang State University (Rp 18.38 billion), Makassar State Polytechnic (Rp 232.36 million), Lampung State Polytechnic worth (Rp 104.49 million), the South Sulawesi Education Agency (Rp 3.95 billion) and Hasanuddin University (Rp 2.29 billion).