GRAFT BODY TO G0 AHEAD AMID POLEMICS WITH LAWMAKERS

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, April 26 (ANTARA) - The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) said on Friday it was determined to go ahead with its investigation tasks amid polemics with legislators about its attempt to search their office rooms over an alleged bribery case.

        "Law enforcement will go ahead. All legal instruments will be used. I think all must respect legal process," KPK Chairman Antasari Azhar said on Friday in response to reports that the House of Representatives (DPR) was trying to hamper KPK's attempts to search the office of the legislator who was suspected to have been involved in a bribery case of protected forest conversion in Bintan island.

        Antasari said the procedure for enforcing the law had been laid down in the law on procedures which serves as a basis for the KPK to act.

        House Speaker Agung Laksono said that the KPK plan to search lawmakers' offices on Tuesday ran counter to standing procedures. The House rejection of the KPK plan was seen by the media that the DPR was trying to hamper KPK's efforts to investigate alleged bribe cases in the House.

        Agung Laksono acknowledged he was not preventing KPK personnel from investigating the office of Al Amin Nur Nasution, a member of Commission IV of the DPR. Nasution is now under detention by the KPK over an alleged bribery case of a protected forest conversion.

        "I am not hampering the KPK in carrying out its tasks," Agung Laksono said stressing however that the KPK should maintain good relations among institutions in carrying out its tasks.

        He said that the KPK plan to search the office of Al Amin was not in line with the standing procedures. The House speaker refused to receive the KPK investigators because the House was still waiting for a clarification from the anti-graft body over the Al Amin case.

        Panda Nababan of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) House faction said however that the KPK had every right to search legislators' offices. "Under the law, the KPK has the right to conduct a search. So, Why not? The matter is regulated in the law which was drafted by the lawmakers themselves," Panda Nababan said.

        Panda said the polemics on whether or not the KPK had the right to search lawmakers' offices harmed the interest of DPR as an institution because it was the DPR itself which had authorized the KPK to conduct such search.

        "The polemics on it are embarrassing. The KPK was set up by the government and the DPR with the right to conduct a search," Panda Nababan, who is also a member of DPR's Commission III on legal affairs, said.

        He said the reason that the search ran counter to the procedures should not lead to polemics. "The reason is only a fabricated one because the KPK also searched the Attorney General's Office, the Supreme Court and the Judicial Commission without following any particular procedure," he added.

        Deputy Chairman of DPR's Council of Ethics (BK-DPR) Gayus Lumbun said that under Law No. 30. 2002 on KPK, the anti-graft commission in carrying out its task could ignore other laws.

        "But in the interest of the law itself to achieve its goals, the KPK should also pay attention to other things such as legal ethics and avoid ignoring other laws," he said.

        The BK-DPR, he said, was ready to bridge the misunderstanding between the KPK and the DPR with regard to the 'incident' when the KPK searched the rooms of certain DPR members. If there has been a good coordination between the KPK and the DPR, and both sides want it, the BK-DPR is ready to facilitate them.

        "The problem is that KPK officers left the impression that they ignored the universal legal process of ethics. They just followed their own technical procedures to ransack the rooms while lawmakers were in recess," he said.

        After all, the legislative institution was not a sidewalk shop or a SPA shop that could be searched at will, he said.

        So, if the DPR wants procedures to be followed, it does not mean that institutionally the DPR tries to hamper legal bodies, including the KPK in conducting an investigation.

        "As long as it is carried out through the appropriate legal procedures there will be no problem," Aziz Sjamsuddin, deputy chairman DPR's Commission III which deals with legal affairs, said meanwhile.

        Sjamsuddin said the legal action should be taken on the basis of the appropriate procedures for example it should be preceded by coordination with the DPR leadership.

        On this problem, Agung Laksono will soon meet with the KPK head following the House's rejection of its request to be allowed to search the offices of problematic legislators.

        Speaking at the parliamentary building here on Friday, Agung said the meeting was scheduled for next week. At the meeting he and the KPK chairman would try to form a common perception on procedures that should be heeded in enforcing the law.

        Agung said the meeting would not be a form of intervention by the House in the KPK's efforts to investigate corruption cases allegedly implicating some legislators.

        Arriving at a common perception on procedures to enforce the law was necessary as the House as a state institution should be respected, he said. Therefore, the rejection was not a step to hamper KPK.

        According to Agung, KPK step to search the working rooms of the problematic legislators has a strong reason. But the process of law enforcement should also take the process of investigation into account.

        In the meantime, KPK Chairman Antasari Azhar said that the KPK has no problem with the DPR. Therefore, he hoped that the air would be cleared soon so that the KPK could go ahead with its legal enforcement tasks. ***3*** (T.A014/A/HNG/A/S012) (T.SYS/A/A014/A/S012) 26-04-2008 01:01:52