The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Mon, 12/08/2008 10:11 AM | National
The Attorney General's Office (AGO) has traced some money allegedly embezzled from the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights in an online services graft scam to a Singapore bank account.
The AGO's assistant attorney general for special crimes Marwan Effendi said Monday they had traced the proceeds which were part of the 90 percent of the embezzled funds received by PT Sarana Rekatama Dinamika (SRD), the company which set up and ran the ministry's website www.sisminbakum.com.
"The money has been transferred from Bank Danamon to an account in a Singapore-based bank. We will investigate the account's owner and all recipients of that money," he told kompas.com after holiday prayers in Jakarta on Monday.
Marwan also said some of the proceeds had been kept on deposit in an account in Danamon Bank while another portion was on deposit at the Tebet, South Jakarta, branch of state-owned Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI).
"We will ask for further clarification from the company's director Yohannes Woworuntu on the misappropriated funds," he said.
The graft investigation has been looking into how ministry officials and the website operator misappropriated access fees. Those fees were collected through the website where private companies could register new legal entities. The website was set up by the ministry's directorate general of legal administration.
Instead of going into state coffers, 90 percent of the payments went to SRD and the remaining 10 percent went directly to directorate officials. The AGO has estimated the state suffered losses of Rp 400 billion (US$33,000) due to the graft. (ewd)
The Attorney General's Office (AGO) said Wednesday it would recalculate the state losses incurred as a result of a graft scandal centering on a legal administrative website operated by the Justice and Human Rights Ministry.
Assistant attorney general for special crimes Marwan Effendy said his office needed to recalculate the losses to determine whether the income generated by the website could be classed as non-tax revenue.
"To categorize the money (generated from the online system) as non-tax revenue, we need to know the exact amount of state losses in this case. Therefore we will conduct an audit," he told reporters.
The case centers on the distribution of funds allegedly embezzled from an administration services website, www.sisminbakum.com, run by the ministry's directorate general of public law administration.
The AGO had said earlier the scandal cost some Rp 400 billion (US$33 billion) in state losses.
"The Rp 400 billion is not the final amount yet. It is just an estimate," he said.
"The AGO is currently coordinating with the Development and Finance Comptroller Agency to conduct the audit on the state losses."
The website had since 2001 allowed legal entities to register for permits and nominate notaries, with prices ranging from Rp 250,000 to Rp 1 million, generating up to Rp 9 billion of profit per month.
Instead of channeling the money to state coffers, officials at the directorate general transferred 90 percent of it to private company PT Sarana Rekatama Dinamika (SRD) as the system's provider, while the rest was pocketed by officials.
The AGO says the money should have gone to the state as non-tax revenue because it offered online services to the public.
Marwan said a special team comprising officials from the Finance Ministry and the Justice Ministry were planning to suggest to the President that he issue a decree declaring all income and profits from the online system as non-tax revenue.
"Pending the decision on the status of this system, the services will remain available under the control of the Justice Ministry, not SRD anymore," he said.
Marwan said that for now, the money generated from the system would be temporarily transferred to state coffers.
The AGO has so far named four suspects in the case -- current director general of public law administration Syamsuddin Manan Sinaga and his two predecessors, Romli Atmasasmita and Zulkarnain Yunus, as well as SRD president director Yohannes Woworuntu.
The case has also implicated former justice ministers Yusril Ihza Mahendra and Hamid Awaluddin, who is currently the Indonesian ambassador to Russia.
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