AGO told to go easy on corruption suspects

Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

With numerous corruption cases still hanging because of a lack of evidence or other "difficulties", the Attorney General was told on Tuesday to use his discretionary power to reduce or even drop charges against graft suspects willing to cooperate in investigations.

However, the idea's critics have said the move would only further undermine the country's already-weak legal system.

In a seminar hosted by the Attorney General's Office (AGO) on Tuesday, noted legal expert Indriyanto Seno Adji said the charge- reducing system was needed to help prosecutors uncover complicated graft cases.

Such special powers, locally known as the opportunity principle, are regulated in Law No. 16/1996 on prosecutors, which states that the Attorney General has the right to drop cases for the "greater good" of the country.

Indriyanto pointed out that the immunity principle was not new in the legal system but seldom used because prosecutors feared it could undermine the legal system or would be in violation of other laws.

However, if it was used with discretion and not abused the immunity principle could greatly help prosecutors, he said.

"If the Attorney General wants to use the special power, then it should be accompanied by an accountable law mechanism to prevent any abuse of the law," Indriyanto said.

Speaking at the same seminar, Attorney General Abdul Rahman Saleh said he would continue the prosecution process for graft suspects in line with the prevailing anticorruption law.

"In the future, I hope that the Attorney General has the capability to reduce charges. For now, while waiting for the (anticorruption) law to be amended, we will continue the prosecution process for graft cases as regulated in the existing law," he said.

He cited the United Nations Convention Against Corruption, which allows each party representing the state to consider providing the possibility, in accordance with the fundamental principles of a country's domestic laws, of granting immunity from prosecution to a person who provides substantial cooperation in the investigation or prosecution of an offense.

Graft cases are often difficult crimes to prosecute in Indonesia as suspects often cover for each other and many prosecutors have claimed they lack evidence or witnesses to testify in cases.

In the high-profile graft case of embezzled funds from the Bank Indonesia's Liquidity Support (BLBI), a suspect, Agus Anwar, a former director of the now-liquidated Bank Pelita, offered to return his ill-gotten gains with interest on the condition the AGO dropped his case.

This sparked a public outcry as the Anticorruption Law No. 31/1999 does not offer graft suspects immunity from prosecution if they return their money. Earlier legislation had been interpreted by the courts to mean that no corruption had been committed if the stolen money was paid back with interest.

People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Speaker Hidayat Nur Wahid has urged state prosecutors to ignore the request and said prosecutors should press ahead with the Agus' case.

However, the returned funds could benefit the cash-scrapped country, especially if Agus was willing to cooperate by giving valuable information to prosecutors in order to speed up the investigation into other BLBI cases, Deputy Attorney General Hendarman Supandji once argued.