Singgih appoints top crime fighter

Singgih appoints top crime fighter

JAKARTA (JP): Attorney General Singgih appointed yesterday
Yunan Sawidji as his deputy responsible for handling corruption,
treason and other "special crimes".

Yunan rose to prominence in 1981 when he led an investigation
into irregularities in the procurement by the state-owned
shipping line Pelni of the ill-fated ship Tampomas. The
investigation was launched after the ship sank in the Java Sea,
killing 650 passengers, in Indonesia's worst maritime disaster.

Yunan, formerly secretary to the Deputy Attorney General for
Supervision, replaced A. Soetomo as Deputy Attorney General for
Special Crimes. Soetomo, who succeeded in gaining convictions
against top directors of state-owned Bapindo on corruption
charges, will soon go into retirement.

Singgih asked his deputy to be more "pro-active" in
prosecuting cases of corruption, smuggling and other types of
special crime.

He said that the people increasingly expected the Attorney
General's Office to be vigorous in prosecuting criminals.

Yunan, who will turn 55 next week, hails from Klaten, Central
Java. He graduated from the School of Law at Gadjah Mada
University in Yogyakarta in 1963.

He began his career as a government prosecutor in 1964 and was
appointed Head of the Blang Kejeren Prosecutor's Office in Aceh
in 1969. Since then, he has served in top positions in the
government's prosecutors offices in Aceh, Irian Jaya, Yogyakarta,
in the head office serving in the intelligence department, and
then as head of the high prosecutors offices in East Java,
Central Java, Lampung, West Kalimantan and East Java.

Yunan told reporters after the ceremony that he had no special
plans that he wanted to carry out in his new position. "I have
only to follow directives already laid down for a deputy attorney
general," he said.

Soetomo said separately that he was leaving his post
without any regrets because he had succeeded in bringing about
the conviction of people involved in the Rp 1.3 trillion (US$580
million) loan scandal at Bapindo, by far the largest ever
corruption case in Indonesia.

"The amount of state losses was huge and the case was not
simple, since it involved several top government officials,"
Soetomo, who led the investigation into the scandal himself,
said.

"The case also took most of the energy out of me and my
staff," he added.

He said that he had no difficulties in dealing with the
government officials in the case. "Every Indonesian is equal
before the law," he said.

One wealthy businessman and four of the bank's directors were
convicted of corruption in the Bapindo case.

Soetomo said he was leaving behind one major investigation to
be carried on by his successor, involving Kim Johannes Mulia, a
textile businessman accused of forging export documents in order
to obtain tax rebates. "We intend to collect more facts and
evidence before we can take him to court," he said. (imn)