ICW distrusts government's stance on Ghalib case

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)