Ismoko named suspects in Nurdin case

Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The National Police have charged five officers as suspects on charges of attempting to pervert the course of justice by violating the rules set out in the Criminal Law Procedures Code (KUHAP) when compiling the case file against corruption suspect and politician Nurdin Halid.

The officers, including former fraud squad director Brig. Gen. Samuel Ismoko, are now set to face disciplinary hearings.

Ismoko has already been detained on charges of abuse of power when investigating a lending scandal at Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) that inflicted losses of around Rp 1.7 trillion (US$1.70 billion) on the taxpayer.

"The police investigators were negligent by not asking the witnesses in Nurdin's case to make and to sign new statements," National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Paulus Purwoko told a news conference here on Tuesday.

Last week, the North Jakarta District Court rejected prosecution charges that Nurdin had illegally imported some 70,000 tons of sugar, valued at Rp 3.41 billion, from Thailand in 2002.

The court said that the prosecution had failed to prove the charges against Nurdin, the chairman of the Confederation of Primary Cooperative Associations (Inkud) and also a Golkar politician.

The court took into account the testimony of 19 witnesses, who said they had never been questioned about the case and that their signatures on statements in the Nurdin case had been copied from the file on another suspect, Abdul Waris Halid, who is Nurdin's brother. Abdul Waris has already been acquitted of all charges.

Following the verdict, the police's internal affairs division quickly launched an investigation into the signatures and found the five officers were responsible for the mistake.

However, Paulus said the police's internal affairs investigators had not found any evidence that the signatures had been forged.

He also said the police might commence another investigation into the Nurdin case after he was acquitted by the North Jakarta court.

Also on Tuesday, Deputy Attorney General for Special Crimes Hendarman Supandji said his office was anxious to see the National Police reopen the graft investigation into Nurdin.

Commenting on the Nurdin case, Chief Justice Bagir Manan said the court had not actually acquitted Nurdin but merely rejected the manner in which the charges had been framed. Thus, Nurdin could still face a new trial.

Separately, Ismoko's lawyer Juniver Girsang denied that the five police suspects, including his client, had done anything wrong when compiling the case files against Nurdin and Abdul Waris. It was merely a "technical glitch", he claimed.

"The two files were initially compiled as one but this was later split into two by the prosecution. The question is why they did not check and review the case files once they received them," Juniver said.

According to Juniver, it was Ismoko who first arrested and brought Nurdin to court. Thus, it was highly improbable that his client would want to see Nurdin acquitted.

In June, Nurdin was acquitted by the South Jakarta District Court on charges of misusing Rp 169 billion supplied by the State Logistics Agency.

He has also appealed against another North Jakarta District Court verdict last August that sentenced him to a two-and-a-half- year jail term for smuggling 59,100 tons of rice from Vietnam.