AGO detains another whistleblower

AGO detains another whistleblower

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The move to eradicate corruption in the country has received a
big blow as another whistleblower was detained Monday, pending
his trial for alleged fraud.

Kito Irkhami, a state prosecutor who assisted the Public
Servants' Wealth Audit Commission (KPKPN) in probing alleged
corruption involving his boss, Attorney General M.A. Rachman, is
under detention at Cipinang Penitentiary in East Jakarta.

Attorney General's Office spokesman Barman Zahir said on
Tuesday that Kito was detained for allegedly embezzling Rp 470
million (US$55,294) belonging to a woman named Ati Mulyati, who
had asked him to build her house in Cinere, West Java, near the
residence which Rachman had failed to declare in his wealth
report to KPKPN.

Kito is the second person to have paid the price for revealing
alleged corruption involving high-ranking officials.

Barman rejected the idea of a possible link between Kito's
detention with Kito's disclosure to KPKPN of Rachman's unreported
house.

Kito, who moonlights as a contractor, has admitted to lending
Rachman money to buy the luxury house in year 2000, while Kito's
lawyer Tommy Sihotang corroborated this statement, saying Kito
had used Ati's money to purchase the house for Rachman, who later
transferred ownership to his daughter Chairunissa in 2001.

Barman said Kito had broken his promise to Ati, who gave him
the money in two installments.

"Kito was arrested for violating the Criminal Code Articles
378 and 372, on deception and embezzlement, respectively. These
articles allow us to detain Kito, so it has nothing to do with
Pak Rachman's case," Barman told reporters at his office.

The Criminal Code stipulates that the articles carry a maximum
jail sentence of four years each, while the Criminal Code
Procedures says that the detention of a suspect must meet several
conditions, including a minimum jail sentence of five years that
the crime carries.

Barman refused to comment on this matter, however.

Another whistleblower, Endin Wahyudin, was convicted of
defamation for reporting a case of bribery involving three
supreme justices to the now defunct Joint Anticorruption Team
(TGPTPK) in 2001. The justices were recently cleared of all
charges.

The detention against Kito immediately raised the concern of
KPKPN members, including Rudjuan Dartono, who chairs the KPKPN
inquiry team probing the alleged corruption case involving the
Attorney General.

"It (the detention) might be connected to Kito's earlier
report to us," Rudjuan said.

KPKPN chairman Yusuf Syakir raised a question as to "why must
prosecutors arrest their colleagues, when they once promised not
to do so?"

The KPKPN revealed in October last year that the inquiry team
had found evidence of alleged corruption in Rachman's wealth
report, as it had found both irregularities and contradictions in
the statements given by Rachman and the witnesses, who included
Kito, Chairunissa, businessman Husein Tanoto and his son Suryo
Tan, and personal friend Nadjib Salim Atamini. Rachman also
changed his statement regarding how he had amassed Rp 800 million
in his two years as attorney general.

Kito was once a subordinate to Rachman during Rachman's tenure
as the deputy attorney general on general crimes. Months before
Rachman's case surfaced, Kito was transferred to the provincial
prosecutors' office in Bangka and Belitung. It was widely
reported that a dispute between Rachman and Kito had triggered
the corruption scandal.

Despite mounting pressures to dismiss Rachman for hiding his
wealth and engaging in corruption, President Megawati
Soekarnoputri has retained him in the position of attorney
general.

Police have begun a formal investigation into Rachman's case
following the KPKPN report.