Police given right to investigate graft cases

Police given right to investigate graft cases

JAKARTA (JP): A joint informal forum of law enforcement
agencies agreed yesterday to allow the police to investigate
corruption cases, a task which has been "monopolized" by the
Attorney General's Office for the past 27 years.

Minister of Justice Oetojo Oesman said after a meeting with
Chief Justice Sarwata, National Police Chief Gen. Dibyo Widodo
and Attorney General Singgih that details of the agreement would
be discussed further.

"Principally we have agreed that both prosecutors and police
are allowed to probe corruption cases. But what exactly the
authority of each party is and which party is authorized to carry
out preliminary investigations into the cases will be discussed
later," Oetojo told reporters after the meeting he hosted.

The 1971 anticorruption law says that the Attorney General's
Office holds the sole authority to investigate corruption.

The City Police sparked controversy over its legal right to
probe graft in December when officers questioned three just-
dismissed directors of the central bank for alleged corruption.

At the time, Singgih was sure that the police had invaded his
domain. But the police retorted that they had the legal right to
act as they did.

City police spokesman Lt. Col. Edward Aritonang said that the
police's authority as investigators to probe any crimes was
stipulated by the Criminal Code Procedures. He added that the
police's right to investigate graft was also supported by the
newly passed National Police Law.

When asked about the controversy, Oetojo said yesterday that
both the 1971 antigraft law and the 1997 police law would be used
as references.

Dibyo flatly denied that yesterday's agreement was made
following the recent tug-of-war between the Attorney General's
Office and the police.

"The decision was taken just to smooth the way for law
enforcement," Dibyo said.

Separately, the chairman of the Indonesian Legal Aid
Foundation, Bambang Widjojanto, criticized the agreement, saying
that it lacked legal basis.

"The forum has no clear legal basis, but unfortunately its
decisions must be acted on by the law enforcement agencies," he
said.

Oetojo also said yesterday that in an "urgent situation", the
police could ask the directorate general of immigration to delay
any overseas trip of a criminal suspect.

"An urgent situation means that the suspect is feared to be
leaving the country for good," Oetojo said.

He added that the police could then ask for a travel ban from
Attorney General's office not later than three days after they
requested the suspect's overseas trip postponement.

Separately, National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Da'i Bachtiar
told The Jakarta Post Wednesday that the joint forum was needed
to synchronize perceptions among the members on matters which
related to law enforcement.

It was hoped that coordination among the forum members would
generate synergy, he said.

"We use the forum to discuss many things, including our
weaknesses and differences, and to work on them together to
establish better coordination between us which in the end will
boost our performance in upholding justice," he said.

"But, the cooperation will not in any way lessen the
independence and authority of each member," Da'i said.

He said that the forum was not designed to discuss how to
change the authority of any members but how to attune the way
they all worked.

The spokesman also said the forum was not a legal institution
and was not created to produce any legal product.

He asked people not to get suspicious of the forum. "Let's not
think negatively about the forum or the members." (byg/cst)