Attorney General under fire for bad performance<\/p>\n
Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The House of Representatives slammed the Attorney General's
\nOffice for its slow action in handling big-time corruption cases,
\nincluding the cases involving the government liquidity support
\n(BLBI) that cost the state billions of U.S. dollars.<\/p>\n
Legislators of the House's Commission II on home and legal
\naffairs charged that the office had taken way too much time to
\ncomplete investigations and that it had failed to show a
\nconsistent policy on treating the alleged corruption criminals
\nwith the various sentencing demands proposed to the courts.<\/p>\n
J.E. Sahetapy, a legislator from the Indonesian Democratic
\nParty of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), questioned why Samadikun
\nHartono, president commissioner of now defunct Bank Modern, got a
\nmere one-year prison sentence for embezzling Rp 169 billion
\n(US$18.7 million) at the height of the economic crisis when
\nmillions of people were starving here. He also asked a similar
\nquestion about Bank Servitia's David Nusa Wijaya -- currently in
\nhiding -- who swindled Rp 1.27 trillion.<\/p>\n
Patrialis Akbar of the National Mandate Party (PAN) demanded
\nthat Attorney General M.A. Rachman explain why the state
\nprosecutors failed to handle the high-profile cases as tough as
\nthey did with small-scale cases.<\/p>\n
\"The BLBI cases involved trillions of rupiah in losses to the
\nstate. But how come your subordinates pay more attention to small
\ncases, such as a domestic disputes?!\" Patrialis asked in an
\napparently angry tone.<\/p>\n
Rachman did not reply as Commission Chairman Teras Narang and
\nDeputy Chairman Ferry Mursyidan Baldan immediately stepped in and
\ninsisted on terminating the hearing which had already taken over
\ntwo hours of their time.<\/p>\n
Julius Usman, also of PDI-Perjuangan, implied that Rachman's
\nwoeful performance was deliberate and aimed at slowly ruining
\nPresident Megawati Soekarnoputri's administration due to the
\npublic's growing doubts about her stance against corruption.<\/p>\n
\"Nothing good comes from the Attorney General's Office so
\nfar... There is no answer for all the legal problems we now
\nhave,\" Julius added.<\/p>\n
The Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) found that 95 percent, or some
\nRp 138.4 trillion, of the emergency loans extended to 48
\ncommercial banks had either been misused or were disbursed in
\nviolation of banking regulations.<\/p>\n
Rachman said that since the investigation started in August
\n2000, investigators had revealed another four additional
\ncorruption cases from the 48 cases found by BPK.<\/p>\n
Twelve of the total 52 cases had been brought to trial, while
\nthe others are still apparently under investigation.<\/p>\n
Two of those cases ended in a not guilty verdict for the
\nbankers, while the investigation into the commissioner of Bank
\nDagang Indonesia (BDI), Sukamdani Gito Sardjono, has been dropped
\naltogether due to what they suddenly claimed was an absence of
\nevidence that he had embezzled from personal accounts during the
\nmassive bank runs.<\/p>\n
The hearing concluded with the apparently angry legislators
\ngiving the green light for a 77 percent raise for the Attorney
\nGeneral's Office annual budget for 2003 which will bring the
\ntotal to Rp 177 billion.<\/p>\n
The legislators also urged the office to improve their
\nperformance, including the handling of human rights cases.<\/p>\n
\"For an intensive supervision into the prosecutors' policies,
\nwe agreed to set up a consultative forum which will be held on a
\nregular basis,\" Teras Narang said.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/attorney-general-under-fire-for-bad-performance-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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