Anticorruption commission detains two senior government officials

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) on Tuesday detained two senior government officials allegedly involved in a 2002 graft case, with the commission preparing to bring the case to the Anticorruption Court.

Former finance division head of the directorate-general for marine transportation of the Ministry of Communications, Harun Letlet, and former secretary of the directorate, Tarsisius Walla, are in detention at the Salemba Penitentiary in South Jakarta.

Their cell is located nearby that for suspended Aceh Governor Abdullah Puteh, who is a defendant in a separate graft case involving the purchase of a Russian Mi-2 helicopter by the Aceh administration in 2001.

KPK has declared both men as suspects in a corruption case last year worth over Rp 10 billion (US$1.09 million).

The Communications Ministry suspended the two officials late last year.

They were both allegedly involved in marking up the price of 14.5 hectares of land purchased by the Ministry of Communications, which resulted in the state losing over Rp 10 billion. The land, in Tual, Maluku, was bought to develop a seaport.

In the arrest warrant signed by KPK chairman Taufikurrahman Ruki, both will be detained for 20 days. The detention period may be extended until such time as the case is presented to the Anticorruption Court, and is expected to be the court's second case.

Lawyer Petrus Selestinus, a former member of the Civil Servants' Wealth Audit Commission (KPKPN), blasted the commission for detaining his clients.

"They said that the detention move was due to concerns that my clients might flee or destroy evidence. My clients have been very cooperative to date," he told reporters at the KPK office.

On the advice of their lawyers, both Harun and Walla have refused to sign detention warrants or any other documents.

"We will launch a motion against their detention to the Central Jakarta District Court because we believe it is a civil case that does not require detention," Petrus said.

KPK refused to comment on the detention of either suspect. It was not known when the commission will hand over the case to the Anticorruption Court for prosecution.

Dubbed a "super agency", many hope the commission will be able to reduce the level of corruption in the country, considered among the most corrupt nations in the world.

The government of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has declared the cases involving Puteh, Harun and Walla as immediate targets in its anticorruption campaign.