Anticorruption team to refine law enforcers

Anticorruption team to refine law enforcers

JAKARTA (JP): Attorney General Marzuki Darusman announced on
Friday that members of the national joint anticorruption team
would be installed on Thursday, saying their priority was to
clean up the country's law enforcement bodies.

Marzuki said the team, comprising law enforcers and
independent watchdogs, would serve as both investigator and
prosecutor in corruption cases which occurred in the ministries
and other government institutions.

"The team will help the Attorney General's Office handle
complicated graft cases, including former president Soeharto's
alleged corruption, false indictments and alleged bribery at the
Supreme Court," Marzuki told journalists.

He added that the team was an embryo of the Commission to
Eradicate Corruption, mandated by the 1999 antigraft law. The
commission will have to be formed by August next year.

The government was drawing up a regulation dealing with the
commission, Marzuki said. He added that the presence of such a
commission was among conditions demanded by the International
Monetary Fund (IMF) in exchange for the disbursement of its
financial aid to Indonesia.

Members of the team will come from the Attorney General's
Office, the National Police, the Central Bank, the Directorate
General of Taxation, the Supreme Audit Agency, the Finance
Development Comptroller, the Capital Market Supervisory Agency
and the National Land Agency.

It will have up to 25 members, led by former chief justice Adi
Andojo Sucipto. Several outstanding non-governmental
organizations (NGOs), including Indonesian Corruption Watch
(ICW), the Movement of Concerned Citizens on State Assets
(Gempita) and the Indonesian Transparency Society (MTI) have been
asked to join the team.

ICW chairman Teten Masduki said the corruption watchdog would
fully back the team's establishment.

"However, it would be much better if Marzuki unveiled the
candidates for the team beforehand to let the public assess their
credibility," Teten said.

Separately, the National Police, the Attorney General's Office
and the Ministry of Home Affairs agreed on Friday to name their
liaison officers whose tasks will include receiving public
complaints, reporting them to the National Ombudsman Council and
monitoring the legal measures taken in response to the
complaints. (01)