Lili's corruption case pure crime: Prosecutor

Lili's corruption case pure crime: Prosecutor

Muninggar Sri Saraswati and Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post,
Jakarta

The Attorney General's Office (AGO) made a point to refute
speculation that revenge was the motive in its move to hold the
Public Servants' Wealth Audit Commission (KPKPN) Deputy Chairman
Lili Asdjudiredja as a suspect in a corruption case.

Late last year, Lili made an official report to the police
about Attorney General M. A. Rachman's dubious ownership of a
luxury mansion in Jakarta.

"Observe the case clearly, please. Don't try to put us and
KPKPN in a dispute. This case is a pure crime," said AGO
spokesman, Antasari Azhar, during a press conference here on
Wednesday, as he made reference to Lili's case.

Lili Asdjudiredja, the KPKPN deputy chairman, has been named a
suspect in his capacity as the commissioner president of PT
Sebatin, which was recently accused of embezzling a total of Rp 4
billion (US$450,000) drawn from the Bank Indonesia's Liquidity
Loan (KLBI) and bridging funds from state-owned Bank Bumi Daya
and Bank Mandiri.

PT Sebatin's director, William Bong, was on Tuesday imprisoned
at Salemba penitentiary in Central Jakarta, for at least the next
20 days for interrogation by prosecutors.

Lili is scheduled to be grilled on Friday, Antara reported.

"We don't know whether he will be detained after the
questioning or not. It depends on how the investigators view it.
If they think the suspect would destroy evidence or flee, he
might also be detained," Antasari said.

He said that the office began the investigation of the Sebatin
case in August last year, but he admitted that his office had
only started carrying out the investigation on March 12, and
named both Lili and William as suspects, Antasari added.

Both are suspected of violating Law No. 3/1971 and Law No.
31/1999 on corruption, which carry a maximum penalty of 20 years
in jail.

Lili has denied any wrongdoing. He said that he became the
president commissioner of PT Sebatin, which was established in
1997, as an investor following the company's failure to repay Rp
23 billion in debts to state-owned Bank Bumi Daya.

He admitted that he owned 2.5 percent of the company' shares.

AGO's charges against Lili have drawn widespread public
attention due to Lili's position as the head of KPKPN's division
which audited The attorney general's assets and found some rather
serious irregularities.

Last year he made an official report to the police about
Rachman's alleged corruption. Rachman is alleged to have
concealed ill-gotten wealth in the form of houses and luxury
cars.

Antasari refused to comment on the investigation of Rachman's
case, instead just saying that the police were handling it. But
so far the police have not summoned Rachman yet.

The Attorney General's Office also detained prosecutor Kito
Irkhamni, Rachman's former aide, who revealed Rachman's alleged
efforts to conceal some of his assets before he submitted his
wealth report to the commission as it was stipulated by the law.

Kito is currently being tried in an alleged fraud case.
However, several weeks ago, he retracted his earlier statements
over Rachman during questioning by the police for Rachman's
alleged corruption case.

President Megawati Soekarnoputri has rejected mounting public
pressure to replace Rachman. The Indonesian Prosecutors
Association (Persaja) have thrown their weight behind Rachman and
said they would not hand out any punishment or statement against
the country's top prosecutor.

The association's stance, however, has only strengthened
public suspicion of the impunity on the part of law enforcers.