Prosecutors admit failure in pursuing graft cases

Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan

The head of the North Sumatra Prosecutor's Office, Chairuman Harahap, admitted on Saturday that the sluggish investigation into graft cases in the province had been partly caused by the inability of his prosecutors to handle corruption cases.

Chairuman said most prosecutors were not equipped with enough knowledge and skills to handle corruption cases, which often were highly complex.

He disclosed that 175 graft cases remained unsolved. Of that number, 93 cases were in process of preliminary investigation, 46 cases were at an advanced stage of investigation, and 36 cases were already being prosecuted.

According to data from the Medan Legal Aid Institute (LBH Medan), the unsolved graft cases included corruption in irrigation and road reconstruction projects worth Rp 138 billion (US$14 million), and non-performing loans from the North Sumatra Development Bank worth Rp 100 billion ($10 million).

LBH Medan director Irham Buana Nasution said that only 5 percent of those graft cases had been brought to court for trial.

"This is below the people's expectations. We want the prosecutor's office to solve those cases," Irham added.

To improve the prosecutors' capabilities, Chairuman said his office was specially training about 100 state prosecutors to handle corruption cases.

The first training course, involving 50 prosecutors, ended Saturday night, and the training for the second batch of 50 prosecutors would commence soon, he said.

"This is designed to give the state prosecutors technical knowledge on how to handle corruption cases. We hope the unsolved cases can be resolved," Chairuman told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.

LBH Medan's Irham hailed the training, adding that the prosecutors must soon take action to solve corruption cases.

"The people have been waiting for the prosecutor's office to do its work and solve these graft cases," he added.