Courts urged to detain corruption defendants
Courts urged to detain corruption defendants
Abdul Khalik, Jakarta
The Attorney General's Office (AGO) urged district and high
courts on Wednesday to order the detention of corruption
defendants so as to prevent them from fleeing justice during
their trials.
AGO spokesman, Kemas Yahya Rahman, said that many corruptors
managed to abscond prior to verdicts in their cases as they were
not taken into custody while on trial or awaiting decisions on
their appeals.
"Most of them are not detained during the trial or appeal
process. By the time the court has handed down a final verdict
punishing them, they have run away to escape imprisonment. We
can't execute the verdicts," said Kemas.
He said that prosecutors could do nothing to prevent them from
fleeing as only the courts had the power to order the detention
of defendants during the trial process.
Kemas proposed that all defendants in corruption cases be
detained while awaiting the verdicts in their cases.
"At least, they should be put in prosecutorial custody a week
or two before the final verdict is handed down. As a matter of
fact, according to the law the courts can order any defendant at
anytime to be detained to prevent him or her from absconding," he
said.
He gave the example of the large number of persons convicted
in the Bank Indonesia Liquidity Support (BLBI) scandal that had
absconded.
The most blatant example was that of Samadikun Hartono, the
owner of the now defunct Modern Bank, who managed to slip out of
the country despite the fact that the Supreme Court had sentenced
him to four years imprisonment. He was accused of misusing Rp 1.7
trillion in BLBI funds.
Another runaway was David Nusa Wijaya alias Ng Tjuen Wie,
owner of the now defunct Bank Servitia. David was found guilty of
embezzling Rp 1.27 trillion in BLBI funds by the West Jakarta
District Court and sentenced to one year in prison.
He appealed the verdict to the Jakarta High Court, which
increased his jail sentence to four years. The Supreme Court
later further raised his term of imprisonment to eight years, and
ordered him to pay Rp 1.291 trillion to the state.
"If they are free or run away, we have difficulties recovering
the state funds involved. The assets can change hands during the
trial or can be laundered abroad," he said.
The state lost more than Rp 137 trillion in BLBI fraud.
The alarming scale of the malfeasance was first disclosed by
the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) in May 1999.
The government provided liquidity support funds amounting to
Rp 144.5 trillion between August 1997 and early 1999 to assist 48
commercial banks to cope with massive rushes during the monetary
crisis. However, the audit agency revealed that 95 percent of the
troubled banks had misappropriated the BLBI funds.
Some BLBI fugitives
No. Convicted person Company State losses
1. Samadikun Hartono Modern Bank Rp 1.7 trillion
2. Leonard Tanubrata BUN Rp 6.7 trillion
3. David Nusa Wijaya Bank Servitia Rp 1.3 trillion
4. Hendrawan Harjono Bank Aspac Rp 583 billion
5. Setiawan Harjono Bank Aspac Rp 583 billion
Acquitted BLBI defendants
No. Defendant Company State losses
1. Heru Supraptomo Bank Indonesia Rp 18.164 trillion
2. Hendrobudiyanto Bamk Indonesia Rp 18.164 trillion
3. Paul Sutopo Bank Indonesia Rp 18.164 trillion