Mega urged to suspend Rachman over graft charge

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.