AGO to set up team to hunt graft suspects overseas

AGO to set up team to hunt graft suspects overseas

Eva C. Komandjaja
The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

The Attorney General's Office (AGO) said it would soon form a
special team to hunt down graft suspects who have fled the
country as part of the effort to curb rampant corruption here.

AGO spokesman R.J. Soehandojo said the team would start its
work after Indonesia and Singapore signed a long-awaited
extradition treaty as many graft suspects have fled to the
neighboring country.

"After the agreement has been signed then we can set up the
team immediately," Soehandojo told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is expected to conclude the
extradition treaty during his visit to Singapore next week.

The long-running issue, long deemed a thorn in bilateral ties,
will be at the top of the agenda during his talks with Singapore
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Feb. 15, Susilo told reporters.

"I hope that we can solve this problem on my visit there," he
was quoted by Antara as saying, adding that the Singapore Prime
Minister had given good signals on the issue.

For years Indonesia has been seeking an extradition treaty
with Singapore, which would allow graft suspects who have fled to
the island state to be returned home for trial.

Indonesia, which adheres to the civil law system rather than
the common law system, has extradition agreements with Australia,
Hong Kong and Malaysia, which, like Singapore, are common law
countries.

Many corruption suspects, including dodgy bankers,
businesspeople who have misused state funds and corrupt
government officials are reportedly living in Singapore, where
they are believed to have also parked their ill-gotten wealth.
Many of them are thought to have been able to leave Indonesia by
bribing law enforcers here.

Among of the graft suspects believed to be residing in
Singapore are Maria Lumowa (a suspect in the Bank BNI scandal),
Sudjiono Timan (a former top executive of state-owned investment
firm PT Bahana Pembinaan Usaha Indonesia), and dozens of dodgy
bankers who misused trillions of rupiah worth of state funds
intended to bail out banks during the late 1990s financial
crisis.

Soehandojo said that the special team, whose members would
also include officials from the National Police, Ministry of
Justice and Human Rights and the Directorate General of
Immigration, would also be tasked with tracking down the personal
assets of the corruptors so as to recover state losses.

"We expect that the team will do more than just find the
fugitives and their assets. The team's tasks won't be limited to
corruption cases only but will encompass all criminal cases, and
an extradition agreement with Singapore will make things easier,"
Soehandojo said.

Susilo has promised to give top priority to the fight against
corruption, a lingering problem that has cost the country dearly.

Separately, the President said on Thursday that he had signed
a presidential decree on the establishment of the National Police
Commission and the Public Prosecution Service Commission.

According to the President, the police commission's main tasks
will be to assist the president in defining long-term policy for
the National Police and to advise the president on the selection
of the police chief.

The Public Prosecution Service Commission, meanwhile, will
oversee the performance of the prosecution service.

Susilo also said that the government was now in the process of
selecting the members of the Judicial Commission, which will
oversee the performance of the country's judges, who have often
been criticized for controversial rulings amid suspicions of
widespread bribery.