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State offices back whistle-blowing
Several government agencies and state companies have pledged to encourage and protect whistle-blowers to improve the effectiveness of their internal audit systems
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everal government agencies and state companies have pledged to encourage and protect whistle-blowers to improve the effectiveness of their internal audit systems.
Finance Ministry Insp. Gen. Hekinus Manao said that a formal whistle-blowing mechanism would boost the effectiveness of the work of internal auditors in unraveling allegations of wrongdoing.
"Supporting whistle-blowers will allow internal auditors to identify misconduct, punish perpetrators and contain damage faster," he said at a National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) seminar in Jakarta on Tuesday.
Every government agency needs to implement several basic practices to encourage effective whistle-blowing, such creating special units to investigate allegations from whistle-blowers, he said.
"Protecting whistle-blowers is necessary to make them feel secure and to eliminate their hesitation to file reports," said Hekianus.
The Finance Ministry has been developing an internal whistle-blowing system since 2004, when it created its Investigation Inspectorate. The ministry also provides several ways to report allegations of wrongdoing, such as a website, dedicated telephone and fax numbers and email and mailing addresses.
"Documents containing the identities of whistle-blowers are stored in a special place that can be accessed only by authorized officers," Hekianus said. Investigators also promised to keep whistle-blowers' identities confidential so that people can reveal information without fear of retaliation, he added.
The Investigation Inspectorate received 85 reports on misconduct at the Finance Ministry in the first half of 2010. In 2009, it received 147 reports, which was a slight decrease from 157 reports received in 2008.
Investigators found evidence of misconduct in 57 of the 85 reports submitted in the first half of 2010. Ten reports will not be investigated due to lack of evidence and 18 reports are now under investigation, officals said.
The inspectorate said that it had recouped Rp 397.45 billion (US$44.51 million) in stolen state since 2005.
State-owned oil company Pertamina previously appointed international accounting and consulting firm Deloitte to run its internal audit and whistle-blowing systems. Pertamina hired the private company to ensure its internal audit system was accountable and transparent, an official said.
The Corruption Eradication Commission's (KPK) online service, which is called "the KPK Whistle-blower's System", helps the public report government wrongdoings, according to commission deputy chairman, M. Jasin.
The system is aimed at whistle-blowers who have Internet access and complete data to back up their reports, he added. Jasin said that the KPK's online system had received 2,223 corruption allegations and 393 public service complaints that were submitted by 2,616 people since its launch in September.
However, only 3 percent of the reports are eligible for further investigation, Jasin added. (rdf)
