Ginandjar may join Akbar in jail soon

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Another Golkar heavyweight may soon have to face the music for past graft and corruption practices.

The Supreme Court overruled on Wednesday a lower court ruling which was in favor of corruption suspect and Golkar leader Ginandjar Kartasasmita, and urged state prosecutors to resume investigations into his alleged graft.

"A hearing by a panel of justices on Wednesday afternoon decided to accept an appeal filed by the Attorney General's Office and revoke an earlier verdict by the South Jakarta District Court that Ginandjar's detention was unlawful," Supreme Court secretary general Gunanto Soeryono said in a press conference here on Thursday.

The Supreme Court's announcement came on the very same day the Attorney General's Office detained Golkar Chairman Akbar Tandjung, who is also speaker of the House of Representatives, a suspect in a Rp 40 billion (US$4 million) financial scandal involving the State Logistics Agency (Bulog).

Prosecuting big-time corrupters, who are mostly Golkar politicians and Soeharto's family members and their cronies, has proven to be a formidable task even after four years under the reform movement.

Ginandjar, a three-star Air Force Marshall (retired), had been declared a corruption suspect in connection with a technical assistance contract he endorsed between privately-run PT Ultraindo Petro Gas and state-owned oil company Pertamina which caused US$24.8 million losses to the state, while he was a Cabinet minister.

He was detained by the Attorney General's Office in April 2001 but released shortly after the South Jakarta District Court ruled that his detention, was unlawful on the grounds that Ginandjar, who is also deputy speaker of the People's Consultative Assembly, was an active military officer when the alleged corruption took place between 1992 and 1995 and thus should had been investigated by a joint military-civilian court.

The Attorney General's Office appealed the verdict to the Supreme Court, which ruled on Wednesday that Ginandjar's detention was lawful since it was done "consistent with the Anti Corruption Law No. 3, 1971". The ruling may land Ginandjar in jail again.

Law No. 3, 1971 stipulates that the Attorney General's Office is the leader and coordinator of investigation teams probing corruption committed by those subjected to public court and system of law.