Police, AGO go for minor cases to meet target<\/p>\n
Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Responding to the war on corruption launched by President Susilo
\nBambang Yudhoyono, the National Police and the Attorney General's
\nOffice (AGO) have decided to prioritize several graft cases in
\nthe first 100 days of the new administration.<\/p>\n
National Police director of the corruption crimes division,
\nBrig. Gen. Indarto, said on Thursday that investigators would
\nconcentrate on finishing the case files for the alleged
\ncorruption cases involving Karaha Bodas, Aceh Governor Abdullah
\nPuteh and Bank Swansarindo as well as question former attorney
\ngeneral MA Rachman.<\/p>\n
\"We must concentrate on cases that we can resolve in the next
\n100 days. In the meantime, we are still trying to gather evidence
\nin other cases,\" said Indarto.<\/p>\n
Police suspect that there were markups by the Texas-based
\nKaraha Bodas Company at a geothermal plant in Garut, West Java.<\/p>\n
They have named former head of Pertamina's geothermal division
\nPriyanto, his aide Syafei Sulaiman and American Robert D.
\nMcCutchen of KBC as suspects for their alleged roles in
\nfictitious transactions and cost markups in the project, which
\nmay have cause billions of rupiah in state losses.<\/p>\n
Indarto said police were now trying to fulfill requests in the
\ncase file returned by prosecutors.<\/p>\n
In Puteh's graft case, which has reportedly cost the nation Rp
\n30 billion, police have yet to gather hard evidence to link the
\nAceh governor with the case. William Taylor, a local businessman,
\nis the only suspect so far in the case. Previously, he had been
\nquestioned by the Aceh police. His testimony led the police to
\nPuteh.<\/p>\n
Another corruption case involving Bank Swansarindo, now known
\nas Bank Persarikatan since it was acquired by several individuals
\nfrom the country's second largest Muslim association
\nMuhammadiyah, was recently made public by the police.<\/p>\n
\"We have yet to find suspects in the case that has caused Rp
\n60 billion in state losses,\" said Indarto.<\/p>\n
In the case of alleged corruption by former Attorney General
\nMA Rachman, he was accused of failing to include a luxury house
\nand a number of bank accounts on his income report to the
\ngovernment's wealth audit commission. However, the police could
\nnot proceed with the case before because former president
\nMegawati refused them permission to interrogate Rachman.<\/p>\n
\"We now have a schedule to interrogate MA Rachman after we
\nreview his case,\" Indarto said.<\/p>\n
However, many much bigger cases were not mentioned by the
\npolice, the Rp 20.9 trillion Account No. 502 case and the Rp 900
\nbillion government commodity regulator (Bulog) fiasco.<\/p>\n
Th Bulog case centers around embezzlement of surplus subsidy
\nfunds. Police investigators declared seven suspects in 2003 but
\nthey were forced to release them due to their failure to submit
\nsolid evidence to the prosecutor's office.<\/p>\n
Even more confusing was the way in which the police handled
\nthe Account No. 502 case. They had once named several high-
\nranking officials from Bank Indonesia, the now-defunct Indonesian
\nBanking Restructuring Agency (IBRA) and individuals from private
\ncompanies, but later denied ever having declared them suspects.<\/p>\n
The Attorney General's Office has also been concentrating on a
\nfew relatively medium-profile cases to resolve in the next 100
\ndays.<\/p>\n
AGO spokesman RJ Soehandojo said that they were preparing to
\nbring Adrian Waworuntu, a key suspect in the Rp 1.7 trillion BNI
\nscandal, to court as soon as possible while announcing that they
\nintended to prioritize other cases, such as the Rp 3.8 billion
\nmarkup allegation at PT Angkasa Pura II and the Rp 2.2 billion
\ngraft case involving the regent of Pontianak, West Kalimantan.<\/p>\n
Some of the high-profile cases that have been halted or have
\nbeen idle for some time at the AGO, include the graft case
\ninvolving Regional Representative Council (DPD) chairman
\nGinandjar Kartasasmita and the more than Rp 120 trillion Bank
\nIndonesia Liquidity Support Fund (BLBI) embezzlement case.
\nNeither of those cases were mentioned on Thursday.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/police-ago-go-for-minor-cases-to-meet-target-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}