Prosecutors told to shift focus to govt officials

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta

Investigations around the country into malfeasance in the spending of local government budgets have raised many eyebrows for their apparent targeting of local council members, while leaving state officeholders and officials untouched.

Indonesian Corruption Watch coordinator Teten Masduki questioned why prosecutors were singling out the councillors but had failed to find evidence implicating local government officials in budget malfeasance.

"We don't have enough evidence yet to support our suspicions that many local government officials are embezzling state funds. However, we have found indications in several regions that local government executives are engaged in such malfeasance," said Teten.

He suspected that a lack of willingness on the part of prosecutors was the main reason they were not acting against local government officials.

The prosecutors, Teten said, would find a host of irregularities if they were to look into budget spending by local government agencies in the country's provinces, regencies, municipalities and districts.

Legal expert Luhut M. Pangaribuan was of the view that political motives were behind the decision of the Attorney General's Office to single out local councillors.

"The anticorruption drive may be seasonal. When prosecutors have an interest in probing a case, they will try hard. But when they see no benefit for themselves in the case, they will stop the investigation. They should take action whenever there are indications of malfeasance," said Luhut.

He said it was inconceivable that local government officials could maintain they knew nothing about the misuse of state funds by councillors.

Attorney General M.A. Rahman issued an order in April for prosecutors across the country to focus on budget malfeasance by local legislature members.

State prosecutors are currently handling around 300 corruption cases involving local councillors in 30 provinces.

Many of the councillors have been accused of misusing state funds by allocating funding to fictitious projects, while many others are alleged to have accepted bribes during municipal or gubernatorial elections, the Attorney General's Office said.

State losses resulting from local government corruption could reach trillions of rupiah as each of the cases involved between Rp 1 billion (US$111,000) and Rp 10 billion.

Over the last three months, hundreds of councillors have either been named as suspects or convicted in graft cases. The most spectacular example was the conviction on May 17 of 43 out of 55 members of the West Sumatra provincial legislature for embezzling Rp 6.4 billion from the 2002 provincial budget on May 17. The Padang District Court handed out sentences of up to two years and three months in jail in this case.

Earlier this month, 22 members of the Southeast Sulawesi provincial council were named suspects in a Rp 1.9 billion provincial budget scandal, while 18 councillors in West Nusa Tenggara were charged with misappropriating Rp 24.2 billion from the provincial budget.

Attorney General's Office spokesman Kemas Yahya Rahman dismissed allegations that the antigraft drive was part of an effort to improve President Megawati Soekarnoputri's image. He said that the Padang District Court's verdict had encouraged prosecutors in other areas to bring councillors to court.

"We had never any intention of trying to improve our image just because the Attorney General's term will soon come to an end or because of the presidential election. We have been probing local councillors as there is ample evidence, and we have received many public complaints regarding their involvement in graft. We will turn to local government officials later," said Kemas.