AGO's move to drop probe against top firms queried<\/p>\n
Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The decision by the Attorney General's Office (AGO) to drop
\ninvestigations into an alleged lending scandal involving two
\ncompanies linked to leaders at the highest level of government,
\nmay backfire against the institution, which is still struggling
\nto improve its public image over poor performance in its handling
\nof graft cases.<\/p>\n
Lucky Djani, the deputy coordinator of Indonesia Corruption
\nWatch (ICW), said that prosecutors must quickly explain to the
\npublic, the legal reasons behind its controversial decision.<\/p>\n
\"The public is very sensitive about the case as it is an
\nalleged graft case involving (firms linked to) state officials.
\nProsecutors need to be sensitive, too,\" he told The Jakarta Post
\nsaid on Saturday.<\/p>\n
The public has grown \"sick\" of prosecutors' just dropping such
\ncases without explanation, especially graft cases involving high-
\nprofile businesspeople or state officials, he added.<\/p>\n
The AGO has long been deemed corrupt by average citizens.
\nThere were high hopes among the people, however, for swift
\nreforms at the AGO after President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono named
\nin October Abdul Rahman Saleh, a former judge with a relatively
\nclean reputation, as the new Attorney General.<\/p>\n
Rudy Satryo, a criminal law expert of the University of
\nIndonesia School of Law, warned that the controversial decision
\nto drop the graft investigation into firms linked to high-profile
\nfigures would further undermine the image of the AGO.<\/p>\n
\"It's a wrong move. Why can't they be transparent?\" he
\nqueried, reiterating that prosecutors must now convince the
\npublic that its decision was above board.<\/p>\n
Lucky said the AGO offered no reasons for the decision, except
\nto say that prosecutors \"found no potential losses to the state
\nin relation to the loans given to these companies based on a
\nreport from the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK).\"<\/p>\n
On Friday, the AGO announced that it decided to halt its graft
\ninvestigation into cement company PT Semen Bosowa Maros and
\ntelecommunications firm PT Bakrie Telecom, which are owned by a
\nnephew of Vice President Jusuf Kalla and Coordinating Minister
\nfor the Economy Aburizal Bakrie, respectively.<\/p>\n
The AGO had previously planned to investigate up to 28
\ncompanies including those two over alleged loan irregularities by
\nstate-owned Bank Mandiri involving more than Rp 12 trillion
\n(around US$1.28 billion) in loans. Prosecutors, at present, are
\nonly focusing their investigation on four companies. The AGO has
\ndetained top officials of two companies, and also former top
\nofficials of the giant Bank Mandiri as suspects in the case.<\/p>",
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