Mega urged to suspend Rachman over graft charge

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The recent decision of the Attorney General's Office to declare Lili Asdjudiredja, a member of the Public Servants' Wealth Audit Commission (KPKPN), a graft suspect has prompted calls for the suspension of Attorney General M.A. Rachman for suspected corruption.

Lili was chairman of a KPKPN team investigating Rachman's wealth report that ended up with the commission reporting the Attorney General to police for alleged corruption.

Police, however, are yet to investigate Rachman pending permission from President Megawati Soekarnoputri.

Legislator J.E. Sahetapy of the Indonesian Democratic Party for Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) said Rachman's corruption charge should be solved as soon as possible to save the drive to stamp out the country's endemic corruption.

"If Megawati continues to ignore Rachman's corruption allegation, it will set a bad precedent for anti-corruption campaigns as people will think that prosecutors are taking revenge (against Lili)," Sahetapy said.

Sahetapy, who is a member of the House of Representatives Commission II for legal affairs, suggested that Rachman be suspended pending the completion of the investigation into his corruption allegation.

Megawati has responded by dismissing the corruption allegation against Rachman as a mere politically motivated move.

Legal observer Bambang Widjojanto concurred with Sahetapy, saying that Rachman's corruption case must be investigated first.

"All alleged corruptors must be prosecuted. There should be no exception," he said.

Lili, who is also deputy chairman of KPKPN, said he decided not to carry out his daily tasks of auditing wealth of judicial officials after being declared a suspect in a Rp 4 billion (US$450,000) graft case.

"I do it to maintain our institution's objectivity. I must be fair," he said, adding that he would probably suspend his activities in KPKPN if he was arrested after his questioning on Friday.

KPKPN chairman Jusuf Syakir said separately that his institution had yet to decide on Lili's case.

"KPKPN won't get involved in the legal proceeding as it is his personal problem. We will only discuss it if there is a connection with his capacity as a KPKPN member," he said.

KPKPN is expected to hold a plenary meeting over Lili's status with the institution after his questioning on Friday.

Syakir said he smelled something fishy in Lili's case.

"I think there is definitely something suspicious in his case," he said without elaborating.

Last year, Lili and other KPKPN members reported Rachman to police after they found several irregularities and inadequate explanations in regard to several of Rahman's assets.

The Attorney General's Office has instead charged a former aide of Rachman, prosecutor Kito Irkhamni, as he was the one who revealed Rachman's efforts to conceal some of his wealth from his report to KPKPN.