Police admit to slow graft probe at SOEs<\/p>\n
Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The police say they are cautiously moving on a number of graft
\ncases in state-owned enterprises, asserting that some of the
\nrelevant documents and evidence submitted to the police would be
\ninadmissible in court.<\/p>\n
Director of the Anticorruption Unit at National Police
\nHeadquarters, Brig. Gen. Indarto, who is also deputy head of the
\ninterdepartmental anticorruption team, said the police
\ninvestigators were also being extra careful in investigating the
\ncases as they implicated some top government officials.<\/p>\n
\"We know that the public are growing restless with so many
\nstories about graft being published in the newspapers, and the
\nfact that no suspects have been named yet by the police. But we
\nhave to do it our own way,\" Indarto told The Jakarta Post over
\nthe weekend.<\/p>\n
Head of the antigraft team at the Office of the State Minister
\nfor State Enterprises, Lendo Novo, had criticized the police for
\nbeing too slow in investigating suspected graft cases. The team
\nsaid that it had submitted complete files to the police on at
\nleast seven cases, meaning that the police should have named
\nsuspects by now.<\/p>\n
But Indarto said that the police could not charge any suspects
\nyet as they had to verify all of the evidence that had been
\nsubmitted. \"These people (the members of ministerial
\nanticorruption team) are not real investigators so they are not
\naware of the problems we face when conducting our probes.<\/p>\n
\"We can't just charge people as suspects if we don't have
\nstrong prima facie evidence and if the preliminary investigations
\nare not complete,\" Indarto said.<\/p>\n
From a document obtained by The Jakarta Post, it appears that
\nthe seven graft cases include a dubious Rp 745 billion loan from
\nBank BRI to the Domba Mas Group; the alleged misuse of Rp 70
\nbillion for the procurement of IT equipment at BRI; and an
\nalleged Rp 23.6 billion markup in the purchase of a ship for
\nstate-owned ferry company PT ASDP.<\/p>\n
The other cases involve an alleged markup of $2.2 million in
\nthe purchase of a South Korean ship by PT ASDP; an alleged markup
\nworth Rp 1.92 billion in human resources consultancy fees at
\nairport operator PT Angkasa Pura, the alleged violation of an
\ninvestment agreement at insurance firm PT Asuransi Jiwasraya,
\nwhich resulted in losses of Rp 830 billion, and an alleged Rp 337
\nbillion graft case involving state-owned electricity firm PLN's
\ncustomer information system.<\/p>\n
\"All of the cases are still under preliminary investigation,\"
\nIndarto said.<\/p>\n
He added that the police investigators needed to refine the
\ninformation obtained from the documents submitted by the
\ngovernment team as some of it would be inadmissible in court.<\/p>\n
\"Besides, we're not only handling graft cases in state
\nenterprises. We have a lot of other cases waiting to be processed
\nas well,\" Indarto added.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, chairman of Indonesian Police Watch, Neta S. Pane,
\nsaid that the slow pace of the investigations was partly due to a
\nlack of professionalism among some police investigators.<\/p>\n
\"We're afraid that some of the (police) insiders are working
\nwith the suspects so as to intentionally slow down the
\ninvestigations. This is common practice,\" Neta told the Post.<\/p>\n
Neta urged National Police chief Gen. Sutanto to reform the
\npolice by replacing officers who were not professional in their
\nwork.<\/p>\n
\"If the people inside the police were professional, then of
\ncourse the police would be quicker in investigating crimes, and
\nwould also be able to regain public trust,\" Neta said.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/police-admit-to-slow-graft-probe-at-soes-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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