Anticorruption commission detains two senior government officials
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.