Mega-corruptor escapes justice<\/p>\n
Abdul Khalik, Jakarta<\/p>\n
After a year in limbo, the Attorney General's Office (AGO)
\nrecently received a copy of the Supreme Court's verdict
\nsentencing graft convict David Nusa Widjaja to eight years in
\nprison, an official announced on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Now that the AGO had the official notification of the verdict,
\nthere would be efforts made to track down and capture David, said
\nKemas Yahya Rahman, the spokesman for the AGO.<\/p>\n
However, it could be too late, because David, who was
\nsentenced on July 23, 2003 by the Supreme Court in a multibillion
\ndollar corruption scam, has apparently fled the country.<\/p>\n
David, the former owner of the now-defunct Servitia Bank,
\nreportedly left shortly after his travel ban expired on July 5,
\n2003, according to immigration records.<\/p>\n
Legal regulations and bureaucratic flaws have been blamed for
\nthe sluggishness in executing the verdict.<\/p>\n
According to the law, prosecutors can only execute a court
\nverdict after they receive an official copy of it from the court.<\/p>\n
The prosecutors expect the copy of the verdict to arrive
\nwithin a day or two, but in many cases they often come late for
\nvarious reasons, such as administrative flaws. In David's case,
\nfor example, the Supreme Court claimed that administrative
\nshortcomings were the reason for the failure to deliver it in a
\ntimely fashion.<\/p>\n
Moegihardjo, who heads the Supreme Court's criminal case
\nadministration division, explained that the problem had arisen
\nfollowing the replacement of a number of court clerks and other
\nadministrators, including those who were responsible for David's
\nfiles.<\/p>\n
Whether it was coincidental or not is an open question, but
\nthe bureaucratic mix-up in David's case was certainly compounded
\nby the order from the prosecutor's office to free David in July
\n2003, as the Supreme Court did not order the continued detention
\nof David after he lost his appeal.<\/p>\n
David appealed after the West Jakarta District Court sentenced
\nhim to one year in prison for embezzling Rp 1.27 trillion (US$
\n1.38 billion) in Bank Indonesia Liquidity Assistance (BLBI) funds
\non March 12, 2002. He later appealed to the Jakarta High Court,
\nbut the judges decided to give him four years in prison. He then
\nappealed to the Supreme Court, but the justices gave him eight
\nyears.<\/p>\n
Similar issues of poor timing have also allowed at least three
\nother mega-corruptors to escape imprisonment, including the cases
\nof Samadikun Hartono of Modern Bank and two other bankers,
\nLeonard Tanubrata, the owner of Bank Umum Nasional and Setiawan
\nHarjono, the owner of Bank Aspac. Samadikun, also left the
\ncountry after the Supreme Court sentenced him to four years
\nimprisonment for misusing Rp 1.7 trillion of BLBI funds.<\/p>\n
Rudy Satrio, a criminal law expert from the University of
\nIndonesia, took issue with the court's explanation of
\nbureaucracy shortcomings for its failure to send the verdict.<\/p>\n
He asserted that it was impossible that such an important
\ndocument could be held up for a year merely due to personnel
\nchanges. \"The court's administration doesn't depend on one or two
\nemployees. They have a system. There are strong indications that
\nthe delay was intentional,\" Rudy argued.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/mega-corruptor-escapes-justice-1447893297",
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