Antigraft teams may overlap
Antigraft teams may overlap
Eva C. Komandjaja and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
The antigraft team set up recently by President Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono may overlap with the duties of other existing
anticorruption bodies, thus could put efforts to eradicate the
crime in disarray, observers say.
Romli Atmasasmita, who leads the Corruption Eradication Forum,
said on Friday that the establishment of the new team had given a
morale boost to law enforcers to eradicate corruption, but it did
not guarantee the effectiveness of the country's anti-corruption
drive.
"The team reflects the President's expectation to lead the
antigraft movement directly. But, whether it will be effective
will depend very much on the National Police Chief and the
Attorney General," he told The Jakarta Post.
Secretary-General of Indonesia Transparency International Emmy
Hafild shared the concern, saying the existing anticorruption
institutions had yet to perform satisfactorily.
"The presidential decree does not elaborate how the new team
will coordinate the antigraft drive," Emmy said.
President set up the 51-strong anticorruption team, consisting
of prosecutors, police officers and state auditors, in a bid to
accelerate the antigraft drive.
It is authorized to investigate and prosecute graft cases,
hunt and arrest suspects, as well as trace and keep their assets
from possible laundering or illegal transfer abroad.
Many of the new team's jobs are exactly the same as Vice
President Jusuf Kalla's team, called the Swindler's Hunting Team,
which also comprises prosecutors, police officers and state
auditors plus Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials.
Earlier the country welcomed the Corruption Eradication
Commission (KPK), which is specialized in investigation and
prosecution of corruption cases which cause Rp 1 billion or more
in state losses. The commission is authorized to take over cases
from prosecutors and police and bring suspects to the
anticorruption court.
The Criminal Code refers to the police and prosecutors as the
law enforcers in dealing with crimes of corruption. But the
reform movement in 1998 suggested radical moves to combat
corruption, which had plagued the country under Soeharto's New
Order regime.
Romli called on the dissolution of the Swindler's Hunting Team
to anticipate possible overlapping jobs with the new antigraft
team.
"The hunting team should be dissolved or merged with the new
team, because they do the same work," he said.
Romli suggested that the government amend the existing law to
enable corruption cases investigated by police and prosecutors to
be heard in the anticorruption court, which he deems to be
cleaner than district courts.
"The Attorney General's Office and the National Police also
need to talk with the Supreme Court, because no matter how clean
the prosecutors and police officers are, their work will be
decided by courts," he said.
Meanwhile, Emmy asked the President to reform the bureaucracy
first before declaring war on corruption.
"The President may be committed to a fight against corruption,
but it will be useless should the bureaucracy fail to support
it," she said, adding the President should introduce a forum to
regularly discuss the antigraft movement with all stakeholders.
Commenting on the new antigraft team, National Police chief
Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said the team reflected the President's
expectation that law enforcement against corruption would run
effectively.
"It will not strip the power of any (institution)," he said.
Da'i added that the team would work together with KPK and
other antigraft institutions if necessary.
"It will not overlap with the duties of the KPK because the
latter does fall under the president. There will be no
overlapping, it's only a matter of coordination," he said.