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.