Singgih denies police have right to probe graft

Singgih denies police have right to probe graft

JAKARTA (JP): Attorney General Singgih denied yesterday law
enforcement agencies had agreed to allow the police to
investigate corruption cases.

"There's no such thing as joint investigation (of corruption
by the police and my office)," Singgih told a hearing of House
Commission I for security, defense, legal and information
affairs.

Singgih was countering an earlier statement by Minister of
Justice Oetojo Oesman that a forum of law enforcers, known by its
Indonesian acronym Mahkejapol, agreed last week to allow police
to investigate corruption cases, a task which has been
"monopolized" by the Attorney General's Office for the past 27
years.

Oetojo made his remarks after a meeting last Thursday with
Chief Justice Sarwata, National Police Chief Gen. Dibyo Widodo
and Singgih.

Singgih denied yesterday that the forum had discussed the
question of which agency had what authority.

"The forum only discussed ways to facilitate law enforcement,"
Singgih said.

He said the forum does not have the authority to make legal
changes or to amend existing laws as these rights should be
exercised by either the President or the House of
Representatives.

He said that corruption was a special crime which came under
the jurisdiction of the Attorney General's Office.

The 1971 anticorruption law says the Attorney General's Office
holds the sole authority to investigate corruption.

The Jakarta Police sparked the controversy over corruption
investigations last December when it launched an investigation
into the graft allegations involving three former directors of
Bank Indonesia, the central bank.

At the time, Singgih was sure that the police had invaded his
domain. But the police said they had the legal right to act as
they did.

City police spokesman Lt. Col. Edward Aritonang said last
month that the police's authority to investigate any crime was
stipulated by the Criminal Code Procedures and supported by the
new National Police Law.

Singgih admitted the National Police Law says the police can
probe any crime. But he said the law failed to specify whether
the police also had the authority to probe graft cases.

"The current legislators should learn from this situation to
avoid the same (confusion) in the future," Singgih said. (byg)