RI corrupters may face international tribunal<\/p>\n
A'an Suryana, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Fifteen of Indonesia's highest-profile names implicated in
\ncorruption could face trials in the same international court now
\ntrying former Yugoslavian president Slobodan Milosovic for
\ngenocide.<\/p>\n
An international non-governmental organization is now seeking
\na legal opinion from the Netherlands-based International Court of
\nJustice (ICJ) on the possibility of trying Indonesian corrupters
\nthere.<\/p>\n
\"We have filed our data regarding several corruption cases
\ninvolving 15 alleged corrupters here to the ICJ,\" Opus Supremus'
\nIndonesia chairman Stanislav Velinov told reporters on Friday.<\/p>\n
Opus Supremus is an international anticorruption NGO with
\nwell-established networks in 42 countries.<\/p>\n
Stanislav refused to reveal the names of the 15 alleged
\ncorrupters saying only that 10 of them were implicated in the
\nUS$16 Billion Bank Indonesia Liquidity Loan (BLBI) corruption
\ncases.<\/p>\n
\"Should we disclose their names now, they might flee the
\ncountry, or attempt other tricks to avoid international
\nprosecution.\"<\/p>\n
Stanislav, a Bulgarian, said on Friday that he had held
\ninformal meetings several weeks ago in Paris with several
\nexecutives of several banks in Europe, international lawyers and
\nseveral government officials in Europe whose governments were
\nIndonesian creditors.<\/p>\n
\"The figures I met in Paris concluded that our legal data was
\nsufficient and the cases could be filed at the ICJ to be
\nexamined,\" Stanislav said.<\/p>\n
Opus Supremus' Indonesian office was established in 2001. The
\nanti-corruption organization serves international investors,
\nhelping to unravel and combat corruption practices in host
\ncountries.<\/p>\n
According to Stanislav, his organization decided to move
\nforward by forwarding the legal data to the ICJ.<\/p>\n
He said usually, it took four months to five months before the
\nICJ gave their answer in the form of a legal opinion.<\/p>\n
\"Should the ICJ later say that our cases are worth being
\npursued in the international court, we will soon file lawsuits
\nagainst those corruptors at the ICJ so that the alleged
\ncorruptors could be prosecuted in the international court,\"
\nStanislav said.<\/p>\n
ICJ's legal opinion is much awaited not only by Opus Supremus,
\nbut also by other organizations such as Interpol.<\/p>\n
\"If the legal opinion says that the alleged corruption cases
\nare worthy of being investigated, this could be a legal basis for
\nthe authorities to freeze the bank accounts of the alleged
\ncorruptors or take other legal action such as travel bans,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Stanislav, however, admitted that his office's attempt had no
\nprecedent.<\/p>\n
In the last 50 years, there had been 24 attempts to seek the
\nlegal opinion of the ICJ, but none of the cases, from a number of
\ncountries, concerned the corruption cases. Most were for human
\nrights violations, such as ethnic cleansing in Bosnia.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/ri-corrupters-may-face-international-tribunal-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}