The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has reminded the government to increase its budget allocation to enable it to improve its capacity as the front runner in the country'€™s fight against corruption.

The leaders of the KPK, who received Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro at the KPK headquarters on Thursday, said an increase in it budget was one of President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo'€™s pledges during his presidential campaign.

'€œThe KPK leaders mentioned [to the finance minister] Jokowi'€™s promise, including the increase in its budget,'€ deputy of the corruption prevention unit Johan Budi told reporters after the meeting.

However, Johan said the meeting did not discuss the details of the KPK budget for next year.

The antigraft body claims to have been hampered by a low budget over the years, which averages 0.5 percent of the state budget.

According to a KPK document, as of July, the KPK had used only half of its Rp 600 billion budget, while up until August, the KPK had investigated 429 persons in various graft cases, including 75 lawmakers and councilors.

Last year, the KPK received Rp 703.8 billion in funds from the state budget. At that time, the KPK '€” which has 955 personnel, including 254 investigators and prosecutors '€” saved about 30 percent of its allocated budget, using only Rp 468.5 billion of its total budget.

In the same year, the KPK returned Rp 197.3 trillion in stolen funds to the state, and has reportedly prevented Rp 51.5 trillion in potential state losses since its establishment in 2004.

In 2012, the public, under the coordination of antigraft watchdog Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW), collected Rp 403 million to help the KPK fund the construction of its planned new building following a refusal by the House of Representative to disburse funds for the project. At that time, the Finance Ministry had allocated Rp 200 billion in a multiyear fund from the state budget for the construction, but could not disburse it due to the House refusing to endorse it. In December 2013, the KPK started the construction of the building, which will be able to accommodate 1,300 personnel and is scheduled for completion in 2015.

Separately, Emerson Yuntho from the ICW said it was essential to increase the budget for the antigraft body, which often suffered from attempts to undermine its role in tackling corruption.

'€œThe KPK should not be hindered by such matters related to budget allocation. If the government really supports the KPK and its role in handling corruption cases, it will be wise and give it an adequate budget to support it in carrying out its tasks,'€ Emerson said. '€œTherefore, it'€™s good to remind the finance minister about the [Jokowi] promise to support the KPK.'€

Bambang and his deputy Mardiasmo visited the KPK on Thursday to submit their wealth reports, an obligation for all state officials within two months of starting or finishing their tenures, as stipulated in the 1999 Governance Law.

Bambang, who was the seventh minister among 34 Jokowi'€™s ministers to submit a wealth report, refused to publicly reveal his assets.

In his 2011 wealth report, as acting head of the Fiscal Policy Office at the Finance Ministry at that time, Bambang owned Rp 6.2 billion in assets.

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