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)