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.