Fellow prosecutors move against whistle-blower

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

In an apparent attempt to silence any further corruption allegations against Attorney General M.A. Rachman, state prosecutors have moved to discredit their colleague Kito Irkhamni, the whistle-blower who disclosed Rachman's concealed wealth.

The prosecutors started on Monday their investigation into Kito, whom Attorney General's Office spokesman Barman Zahir accused of failing to have fulfilled his duty as head of the civil and administrative cases unit at Sungailiat prosecutor's office in Bangka Belitung province.

"We've started clarifying the matter. We have summoned the head of Sungailiat prosecutors' office for questioning today," Barman told reporters, but he failed to explain why the office had yet to take any measures until recently.

Kito has shocked the Attorney General's Office with his disclosure that Rachman had asked him to purchase cars for him and even build a luxury house for him at Graha Cinere housing complex in Depok, West Java.

Rachman failed to report the house Kito built to the Public Servants' Wealth Audit Commission (KPKPN), which later summoned Rachman to clarify the situation.

Rachman later stated to KPKPN that the house had been sold to a businessman, but the commission found the payment to be way below the market price.

Kito was summoned by KPKPN twice and revealed that he was moonlighting as a local developer in his spare time and that he had acted on Rachman's orders to build the house.

Ever since, Kito has received rough treatment from fellow prosecutors.

Earlier on Monday, internal security officer M. Arsyad ejected him from the office of the deputy attorney general for monitoring prosecutors, saying, "You've given a bad name to this office ... I feel hurt".

Kito claimed that he was only telling the truth.

Barman said on Monday that the move against Kito would center on his failure to serve as the head of the civil and administrative cases unit at the Sungailiat office.

Kito claimed he was demoted to the Sungailiat office in August 2001 following a clash with his superior, Rachman. However, he did not go to Sungailiat as someone else still occupied his proposed position.

During the media conference on Monday, head of Sungailiat prosecutors' office Kusnadi Halim challenged Kito's claim.

He said the Attorney General's Office had vacated the position reserved for Kito, and that his predecessor, Feling Siahaan, had informed Kito in writing that he could commence his duties at Sungailiat on Oct. 18, 2001, but had gotten no reply from Kito.

Kusnadi said Kito had phoned an official at the Sungailiat office on Dec. 10 indicating his readiness to start work. Kito went to Singailiat on Jan. 21, 2002.

"However, he failed to report to me. As of now, Kito has not been inaugurated as a new official at Sungailiat and we don't know his whereabouts," he said, adding that Kito's post was still vacant.

Kusnadi refused to confirm the existence of his letter to the South Sumatra provincial prosecutors' office, in which he allegedly requested a resolution of the double leadership issue at the civil and administrative unit of the Sungailiat prosecutors' office.