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