Twisted justice

Twisted justice

The probe into the Bank Bali scandal has reached a stage where
it is beginning to look like the earlier case in which Teten
Masduki of Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) was pitted against
then attorney general Andi M. Ghalib. Rather than investigating
allegations that he had received millions of rupiah in bribes
deposited in his bank accounts, police at that time chose to
focus its inquiry on the attorney general's complaint of
defamation. Though he was never formally named a suspect in the
case, police declared him innocent. Teten Masduki, on the other
hand, was summoned for questioning several times. It appears the
case is now considered "closed" though a final verdict was never
pronounced.

A similar fate is threatening PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
This firm, which the government paid highly to audit the Bank
Bali scandal, is being charged with having violated the
Indonesian banking secrecy law. A number of lawyers working for
Golkar party functionaries who were mentioned on Monday as having
received Bank Bali funds brought their complaint to the police.
Through various arguments they managed to convince the police
that PwC is guilty of a serious violation of the banking secrecy
law.

If the police and attorneys continue to use this kind of legal
logic, PwC's fate will be the same as that of ICW. Once again we
will fall victim to the police's narrow perception of the law.
The principle of the presumption of innocence is being used to
twist our sense of justice.

-- Media Indonesia, Jakarta