Local prosecutors given authority to handle graft
Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Provincial prosecutors across the country and five prosecutors' offices in Jakarta received on Monday a special privilege: the full autonomy to probe into corruption cases formerly handled exclusively by the Attorney General's Office.
There will be an exception, however, regarding corruption cases involving "national figures, many victims and two or more provinces".
Graft, which is categorized as a special crime, was previously the sole jurisdiction of high-ranking officials in Jakarta.
The new decentralization policy was announced on Monday by Attorney General M.A. Rachman during a media conference on the eve of his office's 43rd anniversary.
"Don't be under the impression that the authority (to handle corruption cases) is in the hands of the Attorney General only," said Rachman.
He said the policy was drawn due to the increasing number of corruption cases in the country that his office alone could not accommodate.
From January 2002 to May 2003, the office probed 746 corruption cases, including 22 involving the Bank Indonesia liquidity support (BLBI).
The office has uncovered many other BLBI embezzlement cases, but it has turned out to be a humiliation, as no convicts from the cases have served their jail sentences so far.
The commitment of the Attorney General's Office in eradicating corruption has been widely questioned, even after the reform movement. Some have even accused the office of being corrupt.
Rachman said each provincial prosecutor would be permitted to issue indictments or to recommend sentences for defendants without consulting Jakarta.
A number of high-ranking officials with Rachman's office previously had the full authority to dictate to prosecutors across the country on indictments or sentence recommendations against corruption suspects, regardless of their lack of knowledge about the cases.
Legal observers have blamed the office's failure to jail particularly wealthy and powerful corrupters, let alone to reclaim the stolen money for the state under the centralized policy.
The old policy caused a delay in legal proceedings -- a corruption case may take more than a year at court -- and opened doors for possible foul play between prosecutors and corruptors, critics said.
In past cases, prosecutors had recommended the court to sentence high-profile graft defendants to only six months for embezzling billions of rupiah in state funds, and some had even requested the suspects' acquittal.
Rachman himself is not clear of suspicion, as he was reported to police by the Public Servants' Wealth Audit Commission (KPKPN) for allegedly submitting a falsified wealth report. His case has yet to be opened by the police, pending permission from the President.
Antasari Azhar, spokesman for the Attorney General's Office, said that provincial prosecutors would also be allowed communicate to the public the cases they were handling in order to guarantee transparency of legal proceedings.
The office had previously banned prosecutors from talking to journalists directly about an open case.
Soewarsono, deputy attorney general for administration, said the office would also provide training for prosecutors in a bid to develop their "competence and mental process".
"Currently, we preparing 400 prosecutor candidates across the country for the training program. They must learn from their supervisors about prosecuting before joining the program," he said.
The candidates are expected to learn how to investigate a case, draft legal arguments for indictments and defend their arguments.
There have been accusations that prosecutors were incapable of issuing indictments or defending their legal arguments in court, which resulted in a series of failures in bringing suspects of big corruption cases and other crimes to justice.
Soewarsono added that the office also planned to boost religious classes for prosecutors "to develop good mental processes".