Don't politicize legal measures, urges Marzuki

Don't politicize legal measures, urges Marzuki

JAKARTA (JP): Attorney General Marzuki Darusman has called on
all parties not to politicize the legal measures being taken by
his office so that legal processes can proceed appropriately.

"We call on everyone concerned to avoid politicizing the legal
measures," he said on Friday.

Marzuki, stressing that this was merely a "reminder", and not
a "warning", also asserted that everyone must "avoid any
intervention into the Attorney General's Office's decisions".

Cautiously choosing his words, Marzuki commented on several
prominent figures who recently came in throngs to visit detained
Bank Indonesia (BI) Governor Sjahril Sabirin since the latter was
named a suspect in the Bank Bali case and has been kept since
June 21 in the Attorney General's Office compound.

The office has seen a slew of prominent figures, under various
banners, visiting Sjahril.

House of Representatives legislators, People's Consultative
Assembly members, the kindred Minangkabau community, have all
come claiming to be friends, partners and colleagues of Sjahril.

Aside from expressing dissatisfaction over the detention, some
have even offered to be bail guarantors for him.

Marzuki has rejected such appeals, saying that the office has
yet to consider the changing of Sjahril's arrest status while
investigation is still taking place.

He also said such visits had not hampered the ongoing
investigation, although he acknowledged that Sjahril's detention
would raise "excessive reaction".

"So far, apparently, there have been no improper incidents
occurring during those visits," Marzuki said.

However, he quickly added that according to the regulations,
only relatives, lawyers, medical doctors and clergymen have the
right to visit a detainee.

"The investigation team of the case has been authorized to
select visitors regarding the relevancy and the level of urgency
of the visit."

Sjahril is suspected of being involved in the scandal and is
accused of paving the way for BI's reimbursement of Rp 904
billion of Bank Bali's defaulted loans.

Some Rp 546 million was illegally transferred to a private
firm linked to then ruling Golkar Party and which some suspect
may have been used to bankroll then president B.J. Habibie's
presidential renomination bid.

Several former state officials have also been linked to the
case, but only Sjahril has been detained during the
investigation, which started last year.

Marzuki has denied accusations that he did not press these
other figures as hard as Sjahril and that he violated the central
bank's independency.

"New evidence disclosed during the investigation shows that
Sjahril was implicated in the case as an individual, so it's got
nothing to do with BI's authority and independence," he said.

Corrupt

Meanwhile, several Indonesian corruption watchdogs jointly
called on the government on Friday to thoroughly investigate and
to establish a reliable court to try politically charged
corruption cases allegedly involving state officials.

After a five-day meeting in Yogyakarta, Central Java, 25
anticorruption non-governmental organizations urged for the
establishment of an ad hoc court since the existing courts and
other judiciary bodies no longer have the people's trust.

"This effort could be considered the best solution to solve
high-profile corruption cases, including that of former president
Soeharto, Texmaco, the Bulog scandal and the alleged aid money
received by the President from Brunei's Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah,"
Abdullah Kamil from the Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW)
announced.

In a joint statement the organizations also concluded that the
government had maltreated these cases by making them out to be
more like political issues rather than crimes.

Such a condition, it said, only further encourages state
officials to commit corruption.

To prevent it, the organizations have urged the government to
include all nonbudgetary funds and expenditures formally in the
state budget to ensure accountability.

They further recommended that officials declare their wealth
before and after serving an official post.

They also want the government to revise the existing law on
corruption and other rulings that are not in line with the
nation's efforts to eradicate corruption. (swa/bby)