Corrupt legal system selective with corruptors

Corrupt legal system selective with corruptors

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

In the last few days, seemingly good news in the drive against
corruption came to the fore.

There was the detention of graft suspect and House of
Representatives Speaker Akbar Tandjung, the conviction of Bank
Indonesia Governor Sjahril Sabirin in a graft case and the
detention of graft suspect and businessman Hashim
Djojohadikusumo.

However, questions abound: Why did it take so long to detain
Akbar? Why does Sjahril remain free after the Central Jakarta
District Court declared him guilty and sentenced him to three
years in prison? Why only Sjahril, when he was merely a bit
player in the Bank Bali scandal? And why Hashim when there are so
many other "dirty" tycoons living free without legal
interference?

According to lawyers Nursyahbani Katjasungkana and Trimedya
Panjaitan, a corrupt legal system allowed it to happen.

At play are judges and prosecutors, who have all the
discretion and rights to detain suspects or send the convicted to
jail.

Nursyahbani gave a classic example of the corrupt legal system
at work with the system's failure to immediately send former
president Soeharto's youngest son, Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra,
to jail after the Supreme Court sentenced him to 18 months in
prison term in connection to a land swap deal in 2000.

"So much time was wasted in putting the man in jail after
sentencing until he finally ran off and was lost for a year,"
Nursyahbani said on Friday.

In the case of Sjahril, the judges, instead of sending him to
prison following conviction, stipulated that the court could not
send him directly to jail because he was free when the verdict
was read.

Both Nursyahbani and Trimedya believe that the judges in
Sjahril's case made a genuine mistake.

They have ruled out the involvement of money in such a
decision, but noted that such a mistake could have an adverse
impact on the public.

"Due to this mistake, the central bank is now governed by a
convict," Trimedya said.

"The court's judges should have stated that this man,
sentenced to a three-year jail term, should be sent to jail
directly."

Sjahril was sentenced to three years in jail for his role in
the Rp 904 billion (US$90.4 million) Bank Bali scandal.

What about Akbar's belated detention? Trimedya believed that
political bargaining was behind it.

"State prosecutors are rendered unable to detain suspects
either due to the intervention of political interests or failure
of further negotiations, as in the Akbar Tandjung case," Trimedya
said.

"Prosecutors had evidence against Akbar in the Bulog case long
before, but they were just waiting for permission to detain him.
Once they received permission -- I won't say who gave the
permission -- Akbar was detained," he added.

Prosecutors finally detained Golkar leader Akbar Tandjung on
March 7 as a suspect in a Rp 40 billion graft scandal involving
the State Logistics Agency (Bulog).

His case will be heard at the Central Jakarta District Court
in the coming weeks.

As for Hashim, Trimedya suspects that money is at play.

"Just see the Hashim Djohohadikusumo case. Everybody knows how
rich he is. Initially, prosecutors spent no time bothering to
detain him. But all of a sudden, they detained him," he said.

Hashim, former chief commissioner of the now defunct Bank
Industri, has been detained as a suspect in the violation of the
legal bank lending limit.

He began his 20 days in detention on Wednesday at Salemba
Penitentiary, pending trial.

While the government has been successful in detaining Hashim,
it apparently failed to nab Hendra Rahardja, a suspect in the
multimillion dollar Bank Indonesia liquidity support (BLBI) to
his bank, Bank Harapan Santosa (BHS), and Sjamsul Nursalim, a
suspect in another BLBI case as well as other tycoons suspected
of plundering state assets.

Hendra is reportedly in Australia, while his case is being
heard at the Central Jakarta District Court. Sjamsul is also
overseas, reportedly in Singapore for "medical treatment".

Trimedya suggested that the government prioritize corruption
cases involving prominent tycoons if it wants to win the hearts
of the people.