Probes into Bakrie, Kalla firms dropped
Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
The Attorney General's Office (AGO) decided on Friday to halt its graft investigations into cement company PT Semen Bosowa Maros and telecommunications firm PT Bakrie Telecom, both of which are linked to influential people in the government.
Deputy Attorney General for Special Crimes Hendarman Supandji told reporters that the prosecutors had found no indications of banking law violations in the extending of Bank Mandiri loans to the two firms.
"Based on a report from the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK), we've found no potential losses to the state in relation to the loans given to these companies. We have informed the BPK of this and it has accepted our findings," Hendarman said.
Hendarman denied suggestions that the decision was politically motivated as the owners of the firms were top government officials.
PT Semen Bosowa is owned by a nephew (Erwin Aksa) of the country's Vice President Jusuf Kalla, while Coordinating Minister for the Economy Aburizal Bakrie owns Barkie Telecom.
The AGO initially planned to investigate around 28 companies, including the two well-connected firms, in connection with alleged irregularities in the extending of loans worth over Rp 12 trillion (US$1.28 billion).
The investigation of the graft allegations is seen by many as test case of the Susilo administration's commitment to curbing endemic corruption.
So far, the AGO has been focusing its investigation on four corporate borrowers, including PT Cipta Graha Nusantara/Tahta Medan (CGN/TM), PT Siak Zamrud Pusaka (SZP), PT Lativi Media Karya (LMK) and PT Artha Bhama Texindo/Artha Tri Mustika Texindo (ABM/ATM).
Top officers from PT CGN/TM and PT SZP have been detained as suspects along with three of Bank Mandiri's top officials, while the AGO is currently questioning Lativi's vice president, Harun Suwardono.
"The investigation has been going on for more than one month and we still have no suspects from Lativi or ATM/ABM yet. Thus, I have asked my investigators to speed up their work and try to name suspects next week," Hendarman said.
Meanwhile, another corporate borrower, PT Kiani Kertas, will soon come under the spotlight as the AGO has identified indications of corruption upon its reading of a BPK report.
"I received the report from the BPK recently and it shows that there were irregularities in the extending of loans to this firm, which could entail criminal aspects," Hendarman said.
Separately, Hendarman, who is also the head of the presidential anticorruption team, said the team would focus its investigations on five cases at the state enterprise and governmental levels -- state oil and gas firm PT Pertamina, social insurance firm PT Jamsostek, the management of the Gelora Bung Karno sports complex, the management of the State Secretariat and the Ministry of Religious Affairs.
Although the team had not finished its preliminary investigations into the five cases, it had uncovered indications of corruption at the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Jamsostek.
However, Hendarman refused to disclose the types of corruption involved or the amount of state losses that ensured, although he hinted that corruption had been identified in the management of the haj pilgrimage fund.
"I have submitted files on both cases to the National Police, and pak Indarto (head of the anticorruption unit at National Police Headquarters) will handle the cases from here on in," Hendarman said.