Lopa to probe protected tycoons for alleged graft
JAKARTA (JP): The fight against corruption has led the Attorney General's Office under new boss Baharuddin Lopa to three businessmen once protected from prosecution by President Abdurrahman Wahid.
The office revealed on Monday that textile tycoon Marimutu Sinivasan had been slapped with a travel ban for a year in connection with alleged graft in his holding company Texmaco.
Deputy Attorney General for Special Crimes Bachtiar Fachri Nasution told the media that the ban had been effective since last Friday. He said the ban was aimed at facilitating the investigation into the case, which was halted last year due to lack of evidence.
"As ordered by the Attorney General, we are now considering a reopening of the Texmaco case. We have already received a report containing new evidence pertaining to the case. Therefore we have taken the precautionary measure of prohibiting Sinivasan from leaving the country to begin with," he said, while refusing to reveal the source of the report.
Sinivasan has been named a suspect for allegedly marking up state loans given to Texmaco during the bleak period of the economic crisis which hit the country between 1997 and 1999.
Earlier in the day, Lopa affirmed that his office would not allow timber businessman Prajogo Pangestu, a suspect in a corruption case, and Gajah Tunggal Group owner Sjamsul Nursalim, whose name is implicated in another graft case, to escape prosecution although both of them are still abroad for medical treatment.
"I encourage them to come home soon for questioning ... the sooner the better ... If they try to give excuses, they will only put themselves in trouble," he said after inducting a team investigating the gross human rights abuse in Abepura, Irian Jaya.
He said his office decided to recall Prajogo's passport because the latter had extended his stay in Singapore due to ill health right after the Attorney General's Office issued him a summons.
"At first he flew to Singapore for business. But, later on he said he could not meet the summons because he had to undergo a blood test prior to his scheduled surgery. Too many excuses," he added.
Nasution explained that the passport revocation was similar to a travel prohibition, since Prajogo could only obtain a permit for a one way trip to Indonesia.
Lopa also revealed that Sjamsul had asked for time before appearing in the Attorney General's Office for questioning because his surgery in a hospital in Japan had been scheduled after his cardiologist returns from a seminar abroad.
In a hearing with the House of Representatives' Commission II for legal affairs in the evening, Lopa argued that his office's investigation into three legislators, allegedly involved in different graft cases, was merely aimed at upholding justice and a clean and respectable legislature.
"My duty has nothing to do with the current conflict between President Abdurrahman and the House. It's not true. The investigation itself can be cited as an example of our efforts to fulfill the people's demand for a sense of justice," he said to the cheers and applause from the commission members.
"I've talked to (House speaker) Akbar Tandjung recently that the sooner the legislators are proven innocent the better," he said. He admitted to have said nightly prayers for 10 consecutive days before announcing the investigation into Golkar party chief Akbar Tandjung, Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) top legislator Arifin Panigoro and the People's Consultative Assembly member Nurdin Halid.
As of Monday evening, state prosecutors continued the questioning of businessman Nurdin, who has been named a suspect in the misappropriation of the State Logistics Agency (Bulog) fund. The crime has caused Rp 160 billion in state losses. (02/bby/rms)