Attorney general to review major corruption cases

Attorney general to review major corruption cases

M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Attorney General's Office promised Monday to complete
hundreds of corruption cases throughout the country within three
months, including a review of big cases.

After being pressed by legislators, Attorney General Abdul
Rahman Saleh disclosed at a hearing that his office would review
big cases that had been buried by the so-called "order to stop
investigation", popularly known as SP3.

"The Attorney General's Office has already reviewed two SP3s
and before the three-month deadline expires we expect to have
reviewed five big cases with SP3s. We want to see if the law has
been applied correctly," Abdul Rahman said in a hearing with the
House of Representatives's Commission III on law, human rights
and security.

Abdul Rahman, however, refused to name the five big corruption
cases, only saying that the cases related to the alleged misuse
of Bank Indonesia Liquidity Assistance (BLBI) disbursed to bail-
out ailing banks in the wake of the 1998 financial crisis.

The cases likely include one involving owner of Bank Dagang
Nasional Indonesia (BDNI) group Sjamsul Nursalim, whose
corruption case had been dropped at the end of former president
Megawati Soekarnoputri's tenure.

Also, the Attorney General's Office disclosed recently that it
was reviewing a closed corruption case involving former energy
minister Ginandjar Kartasasmita, currently chairman of the
Regional Representative Council.

Apart from reviewing high-profile SP3s, according to Deputy
Attorney General for Special Crime Soedono Iswahyudi,
prosecutors' offices across the country would bring 62 corruption
cases to trial in the next two months.

Again, he refused to disclose the cases and only said "they
include ones that have been in the limelight and have drawn
public attention."

In addition, Soedono revealed that prosecutors' offices would
start fresh probes into 86 corruption cases. Currently, he said,
the offices were still investigating 76 corruption cases.

Revelations of the AGO's drive to handle corruption cases came
only after legislators pressed Abdul Rahman to disclose what he
would do about rampant corruption in the country.

Legislator Patrialis Akbar of the National Mandate Party (PAN)
faction criticized the Attorney General's Office's reluctance to
take more initiatives in probing corruption cases, rather than
expecting reports from the public.

Panda Nababan of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle
(PDI Perjuangan) faction also expressed his dissatisfaction with
the attorney general.

He noted that because of his relatively good track record
Abdul Rahman could have brought about change to the Attorney
General's Office. "Instead, we are all only buoyed by a pledge
that all will be resolved in the first 100 days," he said.