Antigraft law delayed

JAKARTA: Justice and human rights minister Hamid Awaluddin said on Tuesday that his office may have to delay issuing a crucial antigraft ruling as it was still focussing on relief efforts in tsunami-hit areas in the country.

"We have made the draft but have not discussed it yet with law experts as we are busy in Aceh," he told reporters after a hearing at the Constitutional Court.

He earlier said that the ministry would immediately discuss the draft with law experts before presenting it to the Attorney General's Office, the National Police, and the Corruption Eradication Commission.

But Hamid asserted that the drafting of the government regulation in lieu of law, which would allow law enforcers to detain high-profile corruption suspects right from the beginning of the investigation, would be completed some time next month.

The ruling is being drafted in a bid to accelerate the government's anticorruption drive. -- JP