AGO plan to try absent tycoons sparks criticism from expert

AGO plan to try absent tycoons sparks criticism from expert

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Attorney General's Office plan to try several businessmen in
absentia will set a bad precedent for Indonesia's judicial
system, a legal expert said.

"I believe the government should first try to have a defendant
appear in court through diplomatic channels," Frans Hendra Winata
said when asked about the men, such as Syamsul Nursalim of Bank
Dagang Negara Indonesia and Bambang Sutrisno of Bank Surya, who
are reportedly residing in foreign countries.

The problem is that the government knows the addresses of
these businessmen, yet it will go ahead with in absentia trials,
which amounts to irresponsible political will, said Frans on the
sidelines of a hearing with the House of Representatives
Commission II for home and legal affairs.

Citing an example, he said the address of ailing former
president Soeharto was known, but he had not been tried in
absentia because of his poor state of health.

On the other hand, the businessmen abroad whose addresses were
known were forced to be tried in absentia.

Frans said these trials would not be effective since both the
defendant and especially the state assets were not able to be
retrieved.

Separately, Bambang, the former commissioner of now defunct
Bank Surya, has asked for protection from the Human Rights
Commission on what he sees as a violation of his human rights in
relation to his claims of legal violations committed by the
Attorney General's Office.

Sutrisno, who has resided in Singapore since July 1997, stated
in a letter to the commission that the attorney general's filing
of a criminal case against him at Central Jakarta District Court
recently on charges of misusing emergency liquidity credit from
Bank Indonesia was legally defective.

"I had completely resigned from Bank Surya and sold all my
shares at the bank on Sept. 8, 1997 to another shareholder, and
the central bank's liquidity credit to Bank Surya was extended in
December 1997 under a loan agreement signed by Sudwikatmono, the
then chief commissioner, and Kiki Ariawan, who was then
president. It was also these two people who later signed the
shareholders settlement agreement on the central bank's credit in
1998," he said.

He added that a recent statement released by the Attorney
General's Office that said it did not know of his whereabouts was
a lie because it had always been informed of his permanent
residence in Singapore.