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.