ICW distrusts government's stance on Ghalib case

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) expressed doubt on Wednesday that the government and the military would earnestly investigate the corruption allegedly committed by former attorney general Andi M. Ghalib.

ICW member Bambang Widjojanto announced neither the government or the military had undertaken concrete steps to follow up his organization's report about the corruption case. He said there were signs the authorities would freeze the case.

"There is even signs the authorities will put the ICW in a difficult position by charging the ICW with defaming a government official," Bambang said.

Of Ghalib's 16 banks accounts which the ICW released to the public as evidence of corruption, only one of them has been checked by the government, Bambang said.

He cited as proof the investigation was not being taken seriously the fact that the military refused to officially name Ghalib a suspect, and that efforts had been made to destroy evidence by switching the name on one of the accounts from Ghalib to the Indonesian Wrestling Association.

The corruption watch recommended the authorities establish a team to investigate the case as well as question the businessmen implicated in the scandal.

Bambang said public participation was also needed to watch and report cases of corruption in the country.

ICW coordinator Teten Masduki specifically asked the chief of the military police to be independent in investigating Ghalib, who is an Army lieutenant general.

The corruption watch announced early in June that a total of Rp 9.2 billion was transferred to Ghalib's bank accounts. This amount included Rp 450 million transferred by businessmen The Nin King and Prayogo Pangestu in April.

Ghalib denied there was anything untoward in the money transfers, saying the money was donated by the businessmen to the Indonesian Wrestling Association, which he chaired.

The corruption scandal created a public furor, and has been the topic of discussion in the legislature and on the streets.

ICW said that despite the public interest, the authorities had not shown the will to investigate the case.

Meanwhile, a group of lawyers urged the House of Representatives to press the government to enforce the new law on clean governance and to establish an anticorruption agency in order to eradicate corruption in state institutions and state- owned companies.

The lawyers, grouped in the Front for Law Supremacy, said the enforcement of the clean governance law, which was ratified by the House in May, was urgent given the rampant corruption and collusion in state institutions, including the bureaucracy and state-owned companies.

"The government should not wait ... to enforce the law because corruption has been institutionalized and become a cultural disease that could take decades to eradicate," group coordinator Faried Gafar said after holding a dialog with the House's Commission I for law, defense and security here on Wednesday.

He said besides deliberating submitted bills, the House should also exercise its supervisory function to push the executive to enforce the bills.

Faried also called on the government to immediately establish an independent anticorruption agency to enforce the antigraft bill which was scheduled to be passed into law on Thursday.

"The agency should handle allegations of corruption in state institutions and also corruption cases which involve former president Soeharto, his family and associates," he said.

He said his front would support the ICW's plan to reveal around 2,000 cases of corruption involving public officials, including ministers and director generals of government departments.

He said the front urged the House to exercise its right to question the government over its investigation into Soeharto's alleged fortune, as well as that of his family and associates.

Aisyah Aminy, who received the lawyers, pledged to encourage the government to enforce the law on clean governance immediately and to establish the anticorruption agency.

"The problem is whether the government is able to recruit independent professionals to run the agency. This is theoretically easy but technically difficult," she said. (04/rms)