| by Andi Abdussalam |
Jakarta, Oct 20 (Antara) - Legal observers have opined that the government has to improve law enforcement in the country to restore public confidence, which has dropped due to alleged criminalization against anticorruption officials and activists.
President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) is facing a major challenge to restore the credibility of its government in enforcing the law in the second year of his administration, according to the Transparency International Indonesia (TII)."The credibility of his government with regard to legal enforcement has been tarnished as a result of criminalization against anticorruption activists and leaders of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK)," TII Secretary General Dadang Trisasongko stated on Sunday. Dadang noted that the Jokowi government in its second year should focus on ensuring the implementation of reforms in the police and prosecutor institutions. President Jokowi's government has completed a year in office on Tuesday, October 20, 2014. After a year of his government, several problems still remain unsettled based on his Nawacita (nine national development priority) programs that he promised during the election campaigns. |
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Selasa, 20 Oktober 2015
RI NEEDS TO IMPROVE ITS LEGAL CREDIBILITY
Jumat, 11 Juli 2008
ANTI-GRAFT COMMISSION TURNS ATTENTION TO OIL SECTOR
By Andi Abdussalam
Jakarta, July 11 (ANTARA) - The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) which has already netted or brought to justice numerous "untouchables" such as law-makers, public prosecutors and ranking government officials for graft or corruption, is now turning its attention to people in the country's least transparent business, the oil and gas sector.
Jakarta, July 11 (ANTARA) - The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) which has already netted or brought to justice numerous "untouchables" such as law-makers, public prosecutors and ranking government officials for graft or corruption, is now turning its attention to people in the country's least transparent business, the oil and gas sector.
The KPK is gathering information on alleged corruption in the Upstream Oil and Gas Regulating Body (BP Migas). Officials at state-owned oil company Pertamina and the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) must also get ready to be summoned by the KPK.
"We are now at the stage of collecting information regarding BP Migas," KPK's deputy chairman for prevention, M Jasin, was quoted as saying by Republika daily on Monday.
The KPK is to begin its investigations in the oil sector by verifying official data on oil lifting that have been produced through calculations considered not transparent. It will investigate alleged mistakes in the mechanism of oil lifting and reporting the proceeds of oil and gas sales.
KPK Deputy Chairman Haryono said on Thursday it was believed the results of the official oil and gas lifting calculations so far were contradictory to the facts on the ground. The calculation of oil and gas exploration proceeds were not carried out in the oil drilling fields but in Jakarta by a number of government agencies.
According to Haryono, the results of the ecisting calculation mechanism could well be erroneous because those who had done the calculations did not know the conditions in the field, including data on exploited natural wealth.
The results of calculations made in Jakarta must match the amount of oil and gas pumped up in the mining locations. For this purpose, the KPK and the BP Migas agreed to set up a technical team.
The team will be charged with the task of evaluating various oil and gas management practices, particularly those related to practices so far considered not transparent.
Haryono said the team would work to solve various technical problems, among others those related to the lifting mechanism, supervision mechanism which was viewed to be still weak and improvements in the asset management mechanism.
BP Migas Chief Priyono said he hailed the KPK's efforts to improve management in the oil and gas sector. "We are ready to carry out improvements," he said.
The KPK's initiative to improve management in the oil and gas sector was based on a report by the State Audit Board (BPK) which cast doubt on the veracity of t the results of the oil and gas lifting calculations.
According to Republika, the Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) has received a copy of a BPK audit report which indicated misappropriations of oil and gas proceeds amounting to Rp120.3 trillion. The money was not recorded as state revenue and was spent not through the state budget.
The KPK also received a report from ICW about a corruption case in BP Migas. Therefore, ICW urged the KPK to investigate the alleged corruption case in the oil and gas sector which had the potential to inflict Rp194 trillion in losses to the state.
"We have reported the corruption allegations in BP Migas to the KPK. We call on the anti-graft commission to investigate it immediately," ICW's coordinator for legal and court monitoring affairs Emerson Juntho was quoted as saying.
The low income the state received from the oil and gas exploitation activities, according to Emerson, indicated rampant corruption in BP Migas. This was why, there was no transparency in the oil and gas mining production sector.
"The absence of transparency in the oil and gas production sector is also reflected in the swelling of production costs that have to be borne by the government," Emerson said.
The head of ICW's data distribution center, Firdaus Elyas, said based on data collected from BP Migas, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) and the Ministry of Finance, the ICW had found indications of irregularities that had happened during the past seven years and could have caused Rp194 trillion in losses to the state.
The alleged corruption of the state revenues from the oil and gas sector was detected by the ICW when it found that the amount of Indonesia's reported oil production was smaller than that actually produced.
According ICW's calculation, more than 16.1 million barrels were lost every year as a result of the difference between the reported amount and the real oil and gas being produced.
Therefore, the KPK will carry out recalculation of oil lifting. Of course, the recalculation of oil lifting is hailed by the public. At least oil producing provinces will be informed of the actual amount of oil and gas pumped up from their wells.
"We hail and support the KPK's efforts to recalculate oil lifting because they will also benefit South Sumatra province," Elianuddin HB, deputy chairman of South Sumatra's Regional Legislative Assembly (DPRD), said on Thursday.
He said so far South Sumatra had never been informed about how much oil and gas it was producing. With the recalculation by the KPK there would be openness on the amount of its oil and gas produced in the province.
"Thus, we will know the amount of the revenue the province will receive from the oil production-sharing contracts," he said.
South Sumatra simply received its share from the production sharing proceeds given by the central government without knowing how much oil and gas was pumped up from its wells.
"So, we hail the KPK plan to recalculate oil lifting in this province," he said.
Indonesia's oil production reached its first peak in 1977, at approximately 1.6 million barrels per day, rising from 500,000 barrels per day in just 10 years. Production peaked a second time in 1995, again just over 1.6 million barrels a day.
But since 1995, production has steadily declined and in 2006 was down to just 1 million barrels per day, or roughly a 37.5 percent decline, making the country a net oil importer. (T.A014/A/HAJM/12;50/A/F001) 11-07-2008 12:55:53
Jumat, 04 Juli 2008
RI TO EXECUTE FIVE MORE DEATH ROW CONVICTS
|
Kamis, 26 Juni 2008
INDONESIA TO EXECUTE 57 DRUG OFFENDERS
By Andi Abdussalam
Jakarta, June 26 (ANTARA) - Indonesian authorities plan to speed up the execution of at least 57 drug offenders, some of whom have been on death row since 1994.
The plan to speed up the execution of the convicts, including two Nigerians who are likely to be executed Thursday night, came up at a State Palace function to observe International Day against Drug Abuse and Trafficking on Thursday.
According to Attorney General Hendarman Supandji, there are 57 drug offenders on death row whose executions would be sped up by his office.
Rumors had it earlier in the day that the two Nigerians on death row for dug offenses, Samuel Iwuchukwu Okoye and Hansen Anthony Nwaolisa, at Nusa Kambangan prison, in Central Java, were executed Wednesday night.
But Chief of Banyumas Police in Central Java, Sr Com. Boy Salamuddin said the two Nigerian convicts had not yet been executed.
"They have not yet been executed," he said through a cellular phone.
Their lawyer, Bambang Sri Wahono said later in the afternoon that Anthony and Okoye had contacted their wives at 1 pm informing that they had just signed minutes on the implementation of their execution.
Two ambulances carrying two coffins entered Wijayapura port of Cilacap district at 4.30 am Thursday. The coffins will be ferried to the Nusakambangan Island where the prison for two convicted is located.
"We were called at 24 hours last night to deliver two coffins to Nusakambangan at 4.30 am," the ambulance crew said.
The two ambulances were transported to Nusakambangan at about 5 am by the 'Pengayonam II' ferry belonging to the Ministry of Legal and Human Rights Affairs.
On Tuesday, prosecutors said that the execution of the two Nigerian nationals would be done in secret. "The date of the execution is not to be made public to prevent public controversy," Monang Pardede, assistant deputy to the General Crimes chief of the Central Java higher prosecutor's office, said on Tuesday.
Director of Narcotics Affairs at the National Police's Criminal Investigation Department, Brig. Gen. Indardi Thanos, was quoted by 'Media Indonesia' daily on Tuesday last week as saying that Okoye and Anthony would be executed in late July 2008 at the latest.
He said the National Police were ready for the execution to be carried out on International Anti-Narcotics Day on June 26.
Okoye was sentenced to death by the district court of Tangerang, Banten, on July 5, 2001 for smuggling in 3.8 kg of heroin to Indonesia through Soekarno-Hatta International Airport. In the meantime, Anthony was given the death penalty by the same court on August 13, 2001 for circulating 3.2 kg of heroin in Indonesia.
The death row convicts were sent to the Nusakambangan prison on Nusakambangan Island, a prison for notorious criminals in Cilacap district, Central Java.
Minister for Legal and Human Rights Affairs Andi Mattalatta issued a recommendation for the execution of the two Nigerians and sent it to the public prosecutor's office on June 13, 2008.
Pardede said in order to prevent undue public reactions, the executions would be publicized after they had been carried out. "We are afraid we will face difficulties if they are announced beforehand," he said.
He said the two convicts had made legal efforts such as filing requests for a judicial review or for a pardon but they were all rejected.
On Monday last week, Deputy Attorney General for General Crimes (Jampidum) Abdul Hakim Ritonga said the two Nigerian drug death row convicts would be executed this week.
But he did not mention any date for the executions because preparations still had to be made and the security condition of the place of execution had to be guaranteed.
According to Brig. Gen. Thanos, the execution of drug death row convicts will not stop with the Anthony and Okoye cases.
"We hope the implementation of the execution will not stop until that of Anthony's and Okoye's cases. We also hope that the executions will teach foreign drug traffickers a lesson and discourage them from bringing drugs into Indonesia," he said.
Records made available at the public prosecutor's office show that since 1994 there had been 72 drug criminals on death row for narcotics offenses in Indonesia. Three of them had been executed, one has died natural death, five have had their sentence reduced to life, and one has received imprisonment reduction to 15 years.
The three death row convicts who had previously been executed were Ayodya Prasad Chaubay, Saelow Prasad and Namsong. They all faced a firing squad in Medan, North Sumatra, several years ago.
The large number of death row convicts having their execution delayed is due to the fact that many of them are filing a judicial review or asking for pardon. The submission of a judicial review, or a request for pardon is not restricted by a deadline.
Some have filed requests for a judicial review such as Hunphery Ejke alias Doctor, Mgs Zaenal Abidin and Rahen Agbaje and have waited for years, but they have yet to receive answers.
National Anti-Narcotics Body (BBN) data show that the criminal drug cases in the country increased from 17,355 in 2006 to 22,630 cases. The number of offenders was also up from 31,635 in 2006 to 36,169.
At present, the number of drug addicts in Indonesia is estimated at eight million people. Some 15,000 of them die annually. A survey showed that illegal narcotics dealers operate in all regions in Indonesia.(T.A014/A/HAJM/16:40/a014)
(T.A014/A/A014/A/A014) 26-06-2008 17:59:39
Jakarta, June 26 (ANTARA) - Indonesian authorities plan to speed up the execution of at least 57 drug offenders, some of whom have been on death row since 1994.
The plan to speed up the execution of the convicts, including two Nigerians who are likely to be executed Thursday night, came up at a State Palace function to observe International Day against Drug Abuse and Trafficking on Thursday.
According to Attorney General Hendarman Supandji, there are 57 drug offenders on death row whose executions would be sped up by his office.
Rumors had it earlier in the day that the two Nigerians on death row for dug offenses, Samuel Iwuchukwu Okoye and Hansen Anthony Nwaolisa, at Nusa Kambangan prison, in Central Java, were executed Wednesday night.
But Chief of Banyumas Police in Central Java, Sr Com. Boy Salamuddin said the two Nigerian convicts had not yet been executed.
"They have not yet been executed," he said through a cellular phone.
Their lawyer, Bambang Sri Wahono said later in the afternoon that Anthony and Okoye had contacted their wives at 1 pm informing that they had just signed minutes on the implementation of their execution.
Two ambulances carrying two coffins entered Wijayapura port of Cilacap district at 4.30 am Thursday. The coffins will be ferried to the Nusakambangan Island where the prison for two convicted is located.
"We were called at 24 hours last night to deliver two coffins to Nusakambangan at 4.30 am," the ambulance crew said.
The two ambulances were transported to Nusakambangan at about 5 am by the 'Pengayonam II' ferry belonging to the Ministry of Legal and Human Rights Affairs.
On Tuesday, prosecutors said that the execution of the two Nigerian nationals would be done in secret. "The date of the execution is not to be made public to prevent public controversy," Monang Pardede, assistant deputy to the General Crimes chief of the Central Java higher prosecutor's office, said on Tuesday.
Director of Narcotics Affairs at the National Police's Criminal Investigation Department, Brig. Gen. Indardi Thanos, was quoted by 'Media Indonesia' daily on Tuesday last week as saying that Okoye and Anthony would be executed in late July 2008 at the latest.
He said the National Police were ready for the execution to be carried out on International Anti-Narcotics Day on June 26.
Okoye was sentenced to death by the district court of Tangerang, Banten, on July 5, 2001 for smuggling in 3.8 kg of heroin to Indonesia through Soekarno-Hatta International Airport. In the meantime, Anthony was given the death penalty by the same court on August 13, 2001 for circulating 3.2 kg of heroin in Indonesia.
The death row convicts were sent to the Nusakambangan prison on Nusakambangan Island, a prison for notorious criminals in Cilacap district, Central Java.
Minister for Legal and Human Rights Affairs Andi Mattalatta issued a recommendation for the execution of the two Nigerians and sent it to the public prosecutor's office on June 13, 2008.
Pardede said in order to prevent undue public reactions, the executions would be publicized after they had been carried out. "We are afraid we will face difficulties if they are announced beforehand," he said.
He said the two convicts had made legal efforts such as filing requests for a judicial review or for a pardon but they were all rejected.
On Monday last week, Deputy Attorney General for General Crimes (Jampidum) Abdul Hakim Ritonga said the two Nigerian drug death row convicts would be executed this week.
But he did not mention any date for the executions because preparations still had to be made and the security condition of the place of execution had to be guaranteed.
According to Brig. Gen. Thanos, the execution of drug death row convicts will not stop with the Anthony and Okoye cases.
"We hope the implementation of the execution will not stop until that of Anthony's and Okoye's cases. We also hope that the executions will teach foreign drug traffickers a lesson and discourage them from bringing drugs into Indonesia," he said.
Records made available at the public prosecutor's office show that since 1994 there had been 72 drug criminals on death row for narcotics offenses in Indonesia. Three of them had been executed, one has died natural death, five have had their sentence reduced to life, and one has received imprisonment reduction to 15 years.
The three death row convicts who had previously been executed were Ayodya Prasad Chaubay, Saelow Prasad and Namsong. They all faced a firing squad in Medan, North Sumatra, several years ago.
The large number of death row convicts having their execution delayed is due to the fact that many of them are filing a judicial review or asking for pardon. The submission of a judicial review, or a request for pardon is not restricted by a deadline.
Some have filed requests for a judicial review such as Hunphery Ejke alias Doctor, Mgs Zaenal Abidin and Rahen Agbaje and have waited for years, but they have yet to receive answers.
National Anti-Narcotics Body (BBN) data show that the criminal drug cases in the country increased from 17,355 in 2006 to 22,630 cases. The number of offenders was also up from 31,635 in 2006 to 36,169.
At present, the number of drug addicts in Indonesia is estimated at eight million people. Some 15,000 of them die annually. A survey showed that illegal narcotics dealers operate in all regions in Indonesia.(T.A014/A/HAJM/16:40/a014)
(T.A014/A/A014/A/A014) 26-06-2008 17:59:39
Jumat, 20 Juni 2008
INDONESIAN POLICE DETAIN FORMER DEPUTY INTELLIGENCE CHIEF
By Andi Abdussalam
Jakarta, June 21 (ANTARA) - After two suspects are put behind bars for the murder of human rights activist Munir Said Thalib, the Indonesian National Police Headquarters is now detaining former State Intelligence Agency (BIN) deputy chief Maj Gen (ret) Muchdi Purwopranjono for alleged involvement in the murder case.
Police have served a summons on Muchdi to come to the National Police Headquarters for questioning on Friday (June 20) but he met the summons a day earlier at his own volition, National Police Headquarters' public relations division chief Insp Gen Abubakar Nataprawira said.
"So Muchdi was not arrested but he gave himself up," Nataprawira said, adding that before he showed up at the National Police Headquarters, his lawyer had informed the police his client would come on Thursday night.
Police summoned Muchdi after his name was mentioned in the court trials of two other people involved in Munir's murder. A Munir case fact-finding team had also recommended he should be questioned.
In Thursday's investigation, police named him a suspect in the murder case. "Having been declared a suspect, he will be detained as soon as his interrogation is completed tonight," Abubakar Nataprawira said.
Muchdi signed an arrest warrant served on him by police on Friday but has not yet been put in a cell, his lawyer said.
"The arrest warrant was signed at around 1 am local time today (Friday) but until this morning, Muchdi was still being interrogated,", Zaenal Maarif, Muchdi's lawyer, said.
But Insp Gen Abubakar Nataprawira said that having been declared a suspect, he would be detained as soon as his interrogation is completed.
His lawyers' team is still discussing his arrest. "We, members of Muchdi's lawyers' team, will hold a meeting to discuss this (his arrest)," he said.
Muchdi was named a suspect only one day after National Police Chief Gen Sutanto and the head of the National Police's Criminal Investigation Department Com Gen Hendarso Dahuri indicated police had identified a new suspect in the Munir murder case. But they still declined to reveal the new suspect's name.
Nataprawira said Muchdi was to be charged based on Article 340 of the Penal Code on premeditated murder and the Code's Article 55 on participation in a criminal offense. The articles carried a maximum penalty of 20 years imprisonment, life imprisonment or death.
The two persons already tried and convicted by a court for Munir's murder were former Garuda pilot Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto and former PT Garuda airline company president director Indra Setiawan. Priyanto was sentenced to 20 years and Setiawan to one year in jail.
Munir died after being poisoned during a Garuda flight from Jakarta to Amsterdam on September 7, 2004.
In Friday's interrogation, Muchi denied knowing Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto. "He (Muchdi) does not know Pollycarpus and is not involved directly or indirectly in the Munir case," Luthfi Hakim, one of Muchdi's lawyers, said here on Friday during a break in his client's interrogation.
He said his client knew nothing about the murder and that he had never contacted Pollycarpus. However, he admitted that his client's office phone number was once connected to Pollycarpus' home phone number.
"It was just a connection between phone numbers, but not between Muchdi and Pollycarpus," Hakim said.
Muchdi also denied that he had sent a letter to the national flag carrier PT Garuda Indonesia, asking the assignment of Pollycarpus to be placed in the same flight with Munir. "Muchdi never wrote such a letter, nor asked anyone to write it," he said.
According to the result of a laboratory analysis, the letter was typed on Muchdi's computer, but he also denied it because he did not have a computer at his office and could not operate a computer.
Whether or not the legal process would prove his alleged involvement, his arrest shows the commitment of the government and law enforcing agencies to solving the Munir case.
Minister/State Secretary Hatta Rajasa said the government would pay full attention to efforts of solving the Munir murder case.
"The president on behalf of the government is paying full attention to the case because it has come under national and international spotlight," Rajasa said.
President Yudhoyono had asked the law-enforcing agencies to settle the case transparently, openly, and fairly.
Vice President Jusuf Kalla said he appreciated both the National Police and former State Intelligence Agency (BIN) Muchdi Purwopranjono for faithfully following the prescribed legal procedures in connection with the Munir murder case.
"I highly appreciate the Police and Muchdi," the vice president told newsmen here on Friday.
Kalla said he would not interfere in the case's handling. "Let the law take its due course. Our main objective is to conduct the legal process well. If we can do it, all people are equal before the law," Kalla said.
In the meantime, political observer from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), Hermawan Sulistio, said he was absolutely sure the National Defense Forces (TNI) had chosen to adopt a professional view on the arrest of Maj Gen (ret) Muchdi Purwopranjono.
"Everything should be based on the rule of law because all citizens are equal before the law," Hermawan Sulistion said. He said the police obviously always collected strong evidence before deciding to name a person a suspect in a criminal case.
"And therefore, I am sure TNI will be professional in permitting Muchdi to undergo a legal process," Hermawan said. ***3***
(T.A014/A/HNG/A/B003).(T.A014/A/A014/B003) 21-06-2008 00:12:17
JUNIOR ATTORNEYS GENERAL GRILLED OVER BRIBERY SCANDAL
By Andi Abdussalam
Jakarta, June 17 (ANTARA) - The Indonesian Attorney General's Office (AGO) is questioning several of its top officers for alleged links with a bribery case after a record of bugged conversations was released in last week's corruption criminal court session.
The AGO officials being investigated are Junior Attorney General for Civil and State Administrative Cases Untung Adji Santoso, Junior Attorney General for Intelligence Wisnu Subroto and former Junior Attorney General for Special Crimes Kemas Yahya Rahman.
Lask week's corruption criminal court heard a junior attorney general's bugged conversations with Artalyta Suryani, a businesswoman being tried for allegedly bribing a public prosecutor investigating a BLBI (Bank Indonesia Liquidity Assistance) case.
Attorney General Hendarman instructed the Junior Attorney General for Supervision to seek a clarification on the telephone conversation between Suryani and Kemas Yahya Rahman over the weekend.
"This morning I ordered the Junior Attorney General for Supervision to seek a clarification on the recorded conversation," Supandji said after attending a social function in Magelang.
To investigate the case, the AGO set up an investigating team of the office of the Junior Attorney General for Supervision.
On Tuesday, the team began grilling Untung Udji Santoso and would continue to investigate Wisnu Subroto and Kemas Yahya Rahman.
The three senior AGO officials were investigated on the basis of intercepted telephone conversations Suryani had held with Rahman when he was still the Junior Attorney General for Special Cases.
The conversations occurred one day after Rahman announced the suspension of an inquiry into a BLBI case involving business tycoon Syamsul Nursalim on whose behalf Suryani was believed to have committed the bribery.
In the conversation, a record of which was played in a court session on Suryani's case on Wednesday last week, Rahman had also made references to Santoso and Subroto.
The bribery case came to light last March (March 2, 2008) when the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) agents caught Urip Tri Gunawan red-handed receiving a bribe of US$660,000 from Artalyta Suryani in a house in South Jakarta.
Gunawan is the former head of a team of 35 prosecutors that had investigated the BLBI debtor's case. Following Urip Tri Gunawaan's arrest for receiving Suryani's bribe, Yahya was removed from his position but not prosecuted.
The BLBI refers to emergency liquidity credits extended by BI, the central bank, to commercial banks during the financial crisis which began in mid 1997.
The credits were extended under the government's blanket guarantee program. Of the Rp144.5 trillion of BLBI loans issued since 1997, Rp51.7 trillion had turned bad.
Junior Attorney General for Supervision MS Raharjo said the AGO had asked the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) -- whose investigators had bugged Suryani's telephone calls -- for a transcript of the telephone records to support the questioning of the three senior AGO officials.
The AG0 team would also request the KPK's readiness to provide additional clarifications on the telephone conversation records.
Meanwhile, the AGO's chief information officer, BD Nainggolan, said the AGO supervision department was interrogating 11 staffers belonging to the civil and state administrative and the special cases departments to verify clues obtained from Suryani's telephone conversations that AGO officials handling the BLBI case had actually tried to arrest her "for appearance's sake" to cover up their own wrongdoing.
Supandji said he had to wait for the completion of the court trials of businesswoman Artalita Suryani and Public Prosecutor Urip Tri Gunawan to know whether more AGO staffers were implicated in the bribery case.
He said when it was proven in court Suryani's bribe to Gunawan was linked to Syamsul Nursalim's BLBI debt, the AGO would obviously reopen its investigation into the case.
The government had since tried to solve the BLBI problem but has met with still unsurmounted difficulties to fully recover the state assets. Though some of the bad debt cases have been settled, others remained unresolved. The amounts of the recovered as well as the yet-to-be recovered credits even remained unclear.
In the meantime, the Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) said the handling of BLBI cases should be entrusted to the KPK instead of the Attorney General's Office (AGO) as the latter had proven incapable of tackling corruption.
"Although it has set up an anti-corruption team, the AGO has proven incapable of dealing with corruption in the country," ICW researcher Febri Diannsyah said.
Diansyah referred to what had transpired in on-going court trials of businesswoman Artalita.
"As shown by Artalita's conversations with a number of public prosecutors, conditions in the AGO have made it incapable of handling corruption cases," the ICW activist said.
(T.A014/A/HAJM/A/E002) (T.A014/A/A014/A/E002) 17-06-2008 22:34:42
Jakarta, June 17 (ANTARA) - The Indonesian Attorney General's Office (AGO) is questioning several of its top officers for alleged links with a bribery case after a record of bugged conversations was released in last week's corruption criminal court session.
The AGO officials being investigated are Junior Attorney General for Civil and State Administrative Cases Untung Adji Santoso, Junior Attorney General for Intelligence Wisnu Subroto and former Junior Attorney General for Special Crimes Kemas Yahya Rahman.
Lask week's corruption criminal court heard a junior attorney general's bugged conversations with Artalyta Suryani, a businesswoman being tried for allegedly bribing a public prosecutor investigating a BLBI (Bank Indonesia Liquidity Assistance) case.
Attorney General Hendarman instructed the Junior Attorney General for Supervision to seek a clarification on the telephone conversation between Suryani and Kemas Yahya Rahman over the weekend.
"This morning I ordered the Junior Attorney General for Supervision to seek a clarification on the recorded conversation," Supandji said after attending a social function in Magelang.
To investigate the case, the AGO set up an investigating team of the office of the Junior Attorney General for Supervision.
On Tuesday, the team began grilling Untung Udji Santoso and would continue to investigate Wisnu Subroto and Kemas Yahya Rahman.
The three senior AGO officials were investigated on the basis of intercepted telephone conversations Suryani had held with Rahman when he was still the Junior Attorney General for Special Cases.
The conversations occurred one day after Rahman announced the suspension of an inquiry into a BLBI case involving business tycoon Syamsul Nursalim on whose behalf Suryani was believed to have committed the bribery.
In the conversation, a record of which was played in a court session on Suryani's case on Wednesday last week, Rahman had also made references to Santoso and Subroto.
The bribery case came to light last March (March 2, 2008) when the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) agents caught Urip Tri Gunawan red-handed receiving a bribe of US$660,000 from Artalyta Suryani in a house in South Jakarta.
Gunawan is the former head of a team of 35 prosecutors that had investigated the BLBI debtor's case. Following Urip Tri Gunawaan's arrest for receiving Suryani's bribe, Yahya was removed from his position but not prosecuted.
The BLBI refers to emergency liquidity credits extended by BI, the central bank, to commercial banks during the financial crisis which began in mid 1997.
The credits were extended under the government's blanket guarantee program. Of the Rp144.5 trillion of BLBI loans issued since 1997, Rp51.7 trillion had turned bad.
Junior Attorney General for Supervision MS Raharjo said the AGO had asked the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) -- whose investigators had bugged Suryani's telephone calls -- for a transcript of the telephone records to support the questioning of the three senior AGO officials.
The AG0 team would also request the KPK's readiness to provide additional clarifications on the telephone conversation records.
Meanwhile, the AGO's chief information officer, BD Nainggolan, said the AGO supervision department was interrogating 11 staffers belonging to the civil and state administrative and the special cases departments to verify clues obtained from Suryani's telephone conversations that AGO officials handling the BLBI case had actually tried to arrest her "for appearance's sake" to cover up their own wrongdoing.
Supandji said he had to wait for the completion of the court trials of businesswoman Artalita Suryani and Public Prosecutor Urip Tri Gunawan to know whether more AGO staffers were implicated in the bribery case.
He said when it was proven in court Suryani's bribe to Gunawan was linked to Syamsul Nursalim's BLBI debt, the AGO would obviously reopen its investigation into the case.
The government had since tried to solve the BLBI problem but has met with still unsurmounted difficulties to fully recover the state assets. Though some of the bad debt cases have been settled, others remained unresolved. The amounts of the recovered as well as the yet-to-be recovered credits even remained unclear.
In the meantime, the Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) said the handling of BLBI cases should be entrusted to the KPK instead of the Attorney General's Office (AGO) as the latter had proven incapable of tackling corruption.
"Although it has set up an anti-corruption team, the AGO has proven incapable of dealing with corruption in the country," ICW researcher Febri Diannsyah said.
Diansyah referred to what had transpired in on-going court trials of businesswoman Artalita.
"As shown by Artalita's conversations with a number of public prosecutors, conditions in the AGO have made it incapable of handling corruption cases," the ICW activist said.
(T.A014/A/HAJM/A/E002) (T.A014/A/A014/A/E002) 17-06-2008 22:34:42
Jumat, 02 Mei 2008
INDONESIA'S BANK LIQUIDITY CREDITS TRAP LAW ENFORCERS
By Andi Abdussalam
Jakarta, March 3 (ANTARA) - Allegations that corruption is rampant in Indonesia's law-making and law-enforcing institutions were proven again on Sunday when the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) arrested a prosecutor who was caught red-handed receiving a bribe worth US$600,000.
For a long time, the public has been holding the belief that legal institutions in Indonesia, a country rated as one of the most corrupt nations in the world, are home to corrupters.
Thus, it came as no surprise, when the State Audit Board (BPK) came up two or three years ago with a report that Rp31.5 billion of Bank Indonesia (BI)'s funds had flowed to members of the House of Representatives (DPR), and another sum amounting to Rp68.5 billion were cashed through several checks and transferred to individual law enforces at the Attorney General's Office (AGO).
The money was transferred through a middleman in an effort to stop the legal process that befell BI officials involved in BI's liquidity assistance (BLBI) case.
On Sunday (March 2) at 4:30 pm, KPK agents caught Urip Tri Gunawan red-handed receiving a bribe of US$600,000 from AS in a house in South Jakarta. Gunawan is the former head of a team of 35 prosecutors that had investigated a Bank Indonesia Liquidity Assistance debtor's case.
The BLBI refers to emergency liquidity credits extended by BI, the central bank, to commercial banks during the financial crisis which began in mid 1997. The credits were extended under the government's blanket guarantee program. Of the Rp144.5 trillion of BLBI loans issued since 1997, Rp51.7 trillion had turned bad.
The government had since tried to solve the BLBI problem but has met with still unsurmounted difficulties to fully recover the state assets. Though some of the bad debt cases have been settled, others remained unresolved. The amounts of the recovered as well as the yet-to-be recovered credits even remained unclear.
One version mentioned the result of audits by the State Audit Board (BPK) which put the amount of the bad BLBI debts at Rp2.297 trillion.
But according to the House's BLBI inquiry team, the BLBI credits plus other funds provided in connection with the policy then adopted to restructure national banks had cost the state Rp702.5 trillion, of the amount, Rp144.5 trillion were BLBI credits.
Amid effort to solve the BLBI problem, prosecutor Gunawan was arrested, allegedly linked to a BLBI case. This was a big shame to the government. KPK agents caught him red-handed receiving a bribe amounting to US$660,000 from a lady known by her initials as AS in a house in South Jakarta. It was found later, based on the account of the chief of the neighborhood association, Sambiyo, that the house belonged to Sjamsul Nursalim, a BLBI debtor.
The arrest was made only two days after the Attorney General's Office announced that it had terminated its investigation into the BLBI cases involving the owners of Bank Central Asia (BCA) and Bank Dagang Nasional on the ground that its investigators had not found any indications of corruption in the bankers' efforts to settle their debts to the state. The prosecutors' investigating team was also dissolved.
Lawmaker Aulia Rahman said the arrest of a prosecutor for alleged bribery was a shame to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's administration as the case showed a law enforcer himself to have committed a shameful criminal act.
"The prosecutor's arrest smears the government's image," Aulia Rahman, a member of the House of Representatives (DPR)'s Commission III dealing with legal affairs, said.
Aulia Rahman said the attorney general must take stern action against Urip and his superior. "His superior must also be acted against. His superior is his commandant, isn't he?," the lawmaker said , adding: "If need be, his superior should be suspended."
Junior Attorney General for Special Crimes Kemas Yahya Rahman said however that Gunawan's case is an individual one and had nothing to do with the AGO as an institution. "The AGO as an institution is absolutely not involved. I guarantee that it (receiving the bribe) is a deed involving an individual," Kemas said.
In the meantime, Attorney General Hendarman Supandji said he would take stern measures against anybody in his office implicated in the alleged bribery of public prosecutor Gunawan who had handled the case of a Bank Indonesia Liquidity Assistance (BLBI) debtor.
"It is possible other prosecutors ordered him (to take the bribe) or participated in the bribery deal," Supandji said at a press conference on Urip Tri Gunawan's arrest.
Shedding tears and breathing heavily, Supanji haltingly said he was deeply hurt by the arrest of one of his subordinates for bribery.
He said he had ordered Junior Attorney General for Supervision Affairs MS Rahardjo to conduct an internal investigation in the Attorney General's Office (AGO) and to coordinate with the KPK to clarify and further investigate the case.
Supandji said if the bribery had really happened, he would act against whoever in his office was involved, including (Urip)'s immediate superiors, colleagues and subordinates "without mercy."
He called on the KPK to give the heaviest possible punishment to his subordinates who were involved in unlawful acts. "The KPK should file the heaviest charges against my subordinates who committed unlawful acts," he said. (T.A014/A/HAJM/A/E002) (T.A014/A/A014/A/E002) 03-03-2008 21:46:05
Jakarta, March 3 (ANTARA) - Allegations that corruption is rampant in Indonesia's law-making and law-enforcing institutions were proven again on Sunday when the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) arrested a prosecutor who was caught red-handed receiving a bribe worth US$600,000.
For a long time, the public has been holding the belief that legal institutions in Indonesia, a country rated as one of the most corrupt nations in the world, are home to corrupters.
Thus, it came as no surprise, when the State Audit Board (BPK) came up two or three years ago with a report that Rp31.5 billion of Bank Indonesia (BI)'s funds had flowed to members of the House of Representatives (DPR), and another sum amounting to Rp68.5 billion were cashed through several checks and transferred to individual law enforces at the Attorney General's Office (AGO).
The money was transferred through a middleman in an effort to stop the legal process that befell BI officials involved in BI's liquidity assistance (BLBI) case.
On Sunday (March 2) at 4:30 pm, KPK agents caught Urip Tri Gunawan red-handed receiving a bribe of US$600,000 from AS in a house in South Jakarta. Gunawan is the former head of a team of 35 prosecutors that had investigated a Bank Indonesia Liquidity Assistance debtor's case.
The BLBI refers to emergency liquidity credits extended by BI, the central bank, to commercial banks during the financial crisis which began in mid 1997. The credits were extended under the government's blanket guarantee program. Of the Rp144.5 trillion of BLBI loans issued since 1997, Rp51.7 trillion had turned bad.
The government had since tried to solve the BLBI problem but has met with still unsurmounted difficulties to fully recover the state assets. Though some of the bad debt cases have been settled, others remained unresolved. The amounts of the recovered as well as the yet-to-be recovered credits even remained unclear.
One version mentioned the result of audits by the State Audit Board (BPK) which put the amount of the bad BLBI debts at Rp2.297 trillion.
But according to the House's BLBI inquiry team, the BLBI credits plus other funds provided in connection with the policy then adopted to restructure national banks had cost the state Rp702.5 trillion, of the amount, Rp144.5 trillion were BLBI credits.
Amid effort to solve the BLBI problem, prosecutor Gunawan was arrested, allegedly linked to a BLBI case. This was a big shame to the government. KPK agents caught him red-handed receiving a bribe amounting to US$660,000 from a lady known by her initials as AS in a house in South Jakarta. It was found later, based on the account of the chief of the neighborhood association, Sambiyo, that the house belonged to Sjamsul Nursalim, a BLBI debtor.
The arrest was made only two days after the Attorney General's Office announced that it had terminated its investigation into the BLBI cases involving the owners of Bank Central Asia (BCA) and Bank Dagang Nasional on the ground that its investigators had not found any indications of corruption in the bankers' efforts to settle their debts to the state. The prosecutors' investigating team was also dissolved.
Lawmaker Aulia Rahman said the arrest of a prosecutor for alleged bribery was a shame to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's administration as the case showed a law enforcer himself to have committed a shameful criminal act.
"The prosecutor's arrest smears the government's image," Aulia Rahman, a member of the House of Representatives (DPR)'s Commission III dealing with legal affairs, said.
Aulia Rahman said the attorney general must take stern action against Urip and his superior. "His superior must also be acted against. His superior is his commandant, isn't he?," the lawmaker said , adding: "If need be, his superior should be suspended."
Junior Attorney General for Special Crimes Kemas Yahya Rahman said however that Gunawan's case is an individual one and had nothing to do with the AGO as an institution. "The AGO as an institution is absolutely not involved. I guarantee that it (receiving the bribe) is a deed involving an individual," Kemas said.
In the meantime, Attorney General Hendarman Supandji said he would take stern measures against anybody in his office implicated in the alleged bribery of public prosecutor Gunawan who had handled the case of a Bank Indonesia Liquidity Assistance (BLBI) debtor.
"It is possible other prosecutors ordered him (to take the bribe) or participated in the bribery deal," Supandji said at a press conference on Urip Tri Gunawan's arrest.
Shedding tears and breathing heavily, Supanji haltingly said he was deeply hurt by the arrest of one of his subordinates for bribery.
He said he had ordered Junior Attorney General for Supervision Affairs MS Rahardjo to conduct an internal investigation in the Attorney General's Office (AGO) and to coordinate with the KPK to clarify and further investigate the case.
Supandji said if the bribery had really happened, he would act against whoever in his office was involved, including (Urip)'s immediate superiors, colleagues and subordinates "without mercy."
He called on the KPK to give the heaviest possible punishment to his subordinates who were involved in unlawful acts. "The KPK should file the heaviest charges against my subordinates who committed unlawful acts," he said. (T.A014/A/HAJM/A/E002) (T.A014/A/A014/A/E002) 03-03-2008 21:46:05
KPK URGED TO PROBE AGO OFFICIALS OVER BI FUND FLOWS
By Andi Abdussalam
Jakarta, Feb 16 (ANTARA) - Following the naming of three top Bank Indonesia (BI) officials as suspects in the alleged flows of illegal funds from the central bank, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) is now being urged to investigate people in the Attorney General's Office (AGO) who were also suspected to have received the funds.
In its plenary meeting recently, the KPK declared BI governor Burhannuddin Abdullah along with BI Legal Affairs Director Oey Hoey Tiong and BI Surabaya office director Rusli Simanjuntak suspects in the case of payments to legislators and law enforces.
Now Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) has asked the KPK to include people in the AGO in the list of suspects in the illegal BI funds flow case, saying they had received Rp13.5 billion of the central bank money.
Adnan Topan Husodo of the ICW's Standing Committee, said the AGO people had received the BI funds for the purpose of mitigating the public's adverse perception of the BLBI (Bank Indonesia Liquidity Assistance) case.
The case of BI's funds flowing to lawmakers or members of the House of Representatives (DPR) came to the surface when the State Audit Board reported the case to the KPK in November 2006.
According to the BPK report, BI disbursed Rp96.25 billion (Rp68.5 billion from the Indonesian Banking Development Foundation (YPBI) and Rp27.7 from the BI budget) to lawmakers and law enforcers in an effort to help solve the legal problems of BI officials involved in the bad BI liquidity assistance (BLBI) case.
BLBI refers to hundreds of trillions of rupiah in bailout loans BI extended to a number of commercial banks in the country to save them from collapse during the 1997-1998 Asian monetary crisis. However, the loans later turned bad with many of their recipients failing to return all or most of the state money.
The BPK report mentioned that Rp31.5 billion of the BI funds had flowed to DPR members while the remaining Rp68.5 billion were cashed through several checks and transferred to individual law enforces at the Attorney General's Office (AGO). The money was transferred through a middle man in an effort to stop the legal process that befell BI officials.
Therefore, the ICW urged the KPK to also include people in the Attorney General's Office in the list of suspects in the illegal BI funds flow case.
Adnan Topan Husodo said the AGO people had received the BI funds for the purpose of mitigating the public's adverse perception of the BLBI (Bank Indonesia Liquidity Assistance) case.
He said the AGO people's involvement in the BI funds flow case was indicated in a letter dated July 4, 2003 from BI's then vice director for legal affairs, Oey Hoey Tiong, to then BI deputy governor Aulia Pohan and Maman Somantri requesting the disbursement of Rp13.5 billion.
"The request was made because the amount had been paid and needed to be reimbursed," Husodo said.
In the letter, Oey said the AGO was a "BI stakeholder" in the issuance of BLBI funds and the requested amount would be used to develop the BLBI issue in a way "favorable" to the central bank.
"In relation with the need to create a favorable attitude toward the BLBI issue among stakeholders in the AGO and to counter negative issues about the BLBI credits as well as to develop positive issues about the same, Mr.Iwan R Prawiranata (a BI deputy governor-Ed) requests Rp13,500,000,000,- in financial assistance." Oey said in the letter.
The activities carried out by Prawiranata were "occasional and urgent" in nature, Oey said in the letter, a copy of which the ICW had submitted to the KPK.
Based on the content of Oey's letter, Husodo urged the KPK to take action against "all parties involved in the case, including people in the AGO."
"The KPK must not be discriminative," he said, adding that in investigating the illegal BI funds flow, the KPK should also target former BI policy-makers as the case began well before the present BI governor, Burhanuddin Abdullah, assumed his position.
Therefore, ICW coordinator Teten Masduki asked the KPK investigate all BI officials who were involved in the BLBI case, It should not limit itself to the top officials it had named suspects.
He said that other BI officials should also be questioned because they were present in the BI board of directors meeting on March 20, 2003 put their signatures on the agreement disburse the BI funds.
Separately, KPK Chairman Antasari Azhar said the commission would carry out its investigation into the illegal BI funds flow case to all the parties involved, including to law enforcers.
"To whomever the BI funds have flown, we will extend our inquiry in accordance with the available evidence," Azhar said after a coordinative meeting with the House of Representatives (DPR)'s Ethics Council at the KPK building.
(T.A014/A/HAJM/B003) 2. 21:45. (T.A014/A/A014/B003) 16-02-2008 22:42:28
Jakarta, Feb 16 (ANTARA) - Following the naming of three top Bank Indonesia (BI) officials as suspects in the alleged flows of illegal funds from the central bank, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) is now being urged to investigate people in the Attorney General's Office (AGO) who were also suspected to have received the funds.
In its plenary meeting recently, the KPK declared BI governor Burhannuddin Abdullah along with BI Legal Affairs Director Oey Hoey Tiong and BI Surabaya office director Rusli Simanjuntak suspects in the case of payments to legislators and law enforces.
Now Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) has asked the KPK to include people in the AGO in the list of suspects in the illegal BI funds flow case, saying they had received Rp13.5 billion of the central bank money.
Adnan Topan Husodo of the ICW's Standing Committee, said the AGO people had received the BI funds for the purpose of mitigating the public's adverse perception of the BLBI (Bank Indonesia Liquidity Assistance) case.
The case of BI's funds flowing to lawmakers or members of the House of Representatives (DPR) came to the surface when the State Audit Board reported the case to the KPK in November 2006.
According to the BPK report, BI disbursed Rp96.25 billion (Rp68.5 billion from the Indonesian Banking Development Foundation (YPBI) and Rp27.7 from the BI budget) to lawmakers and law enforcers in an effort to help solve the legal problems of BI officials involved in the bad BI liquidity assistance (BLBI) case.
BLBI refers to hundreds of trillions of rupiah in bailout loans BI extended to a number of commercial banks in the country to save them from collapse during the 1997-1998 Asian monetary crisis. However, the loans later turned bad with many of their recipients failing to return all or most of the state money.
The BPK report mentioned that Rp31.5 billion of the BI funds had flowed to DPR members while the remaining Rp68.5 billion were cashed through several checks and transferred to individual law enforces at the Attorney General's Office (AGO). The money was transferred through a middle man in an effort to stop the legal process that befell BI officials.
Therefore, the ICW urged the KPK to also include people in the Attorney General's Office in the list of suspects in the illegal BI funds flow case.
Adnan Topan Husodo said the AGO people had received the BI funds for the purpose of mitigating the public's adverse perception of the BLBI (Bank Indonesia Liquidity Assistance) case.
He said the AGO people's involvement in the BI funds flow case was indicated in a letter dated July 4, 2003 from BI's then vice director for legal affairs, Oey Hoey Tiong, to then BI deputy governor Aulia Pohan and Maman Somantri requesting the disbursement of Rp13.5 billion.
"The request was made because the amount had been paid and needed to be reimbursed," Husodo said.
In the letter, Oey said the AGO was a "BI stakeholder" in the issuance of BLBI funds and the requested amount would be used to develop the BLBI issue in a way "favorable" to the central bank.
"In relation with the need to create a favorable attitude toward the BLBI issue among stakeholders in the AGO and to counter negative issues about the BLBI credits as well as to develop positive issues about the same, Mr.Iwan R Prawiranata (a BI deputy governor-Ed) requests Rp13,500,000,000,- in financial assistance." Oey said in the letter.
The activities carried out by Prawiranata were "occasional and urgent" in nature, Oey said in the letter, a copy of which the ICW had submitted to the KPK.
Based on the content of Oey's letter, Husodo urged the KPK to take action against "all parties involved in the case, including people in the AGO."
"The KPK must not be discriminative," he said, adding that in investigating the illegal BI funds flow, the KPK should also target former BI policy-makers as the case began well before the present BI governor, Burhanuddin Abdullah, assumed his position.
Therefore, ICW coordinator Teten Masduki asked the KPK investigate all BI officials who were involved in the BLBI case, It should not limit itself to the top officials it had named suspects.
He said that other BI officials should also be questioned because they were present in the BI board of directors meeting on March 20, 2003 put their signatures on the agreement disburse the BI funds.
Separately, KPK Chairman Antasari Azhar said the commission would carry out its investigation into the illegal BI funds flow case to all the parties involved, including to law enforcers.
"To whomever the BI funds have flown, we will extend our inquiry in accordance with the available evidence," Azhar said after a coordinative meeting with the House of Representatives (DPR)'s Ethics Council at the KPK building.
(T.A014/A/HAJM/B003) 2. 21:45. (T.A014/A/A014/B003) 16-02-2008 22:42:28
GOVT MAY FACE CRIMINAL CHARGES OVER BI LIQUIDITY CREDITS
By Andi Abdussalam
Jakarta, Feb 11 (ANTARA) - The government may face a corruption charge if it implements an agreement it has reached with members of the Financial Affairs Commission of the House Representatives (DPR) which puts the amount of debts of Bank Indonesia liquidity assistance (BLBI) debtors at Rp2.297 trillion.
The government has previously stated that seven BLBI debtors still owed the state Rp9.3 trillion. Thus, the state will suffer a loss of about Rp7 trillion if the government implements the decision it reached recently with the House's Financial Commission, which set the seven debtors' debts at Rp2.297 trillion.
"I am now reminding the government of a possible legal problem arising later on. This is because there would be possible parties who later on view that the debtors' Rp9.3 trillion debts have been reduced to Rp2.297 trillion that cost the state Rp7 trillion," Dradjad H Wibowo of the House Commission XI, which deals with financial affairs, said.
He said that the Rp2.297 trillion was illogical and the reduction of Rp7 trillion could be viewed as benefiting the debtors. In this case, there are elements of state losses, parties who enjoy them while some authority was being used in the process.
Thus, the elements of violation of an article in the corruption crimes are met. "This could later on invite legal experts or the attorney general to consider the case worth investigating," Wibowo said.
The BLBI refers to emergency liquidity credits extended by BI, the central bank, to commercial banks during the financial crisis which began in mid 1997. The credits were extended under the government's blanket guarantee program. Of the Rp144.5 trillion BLBI had extended since 1997, Rp51.7 trillion had turned bad.
The government had since tried to solve the BLBI problem but has met with still unsurmounted difficulties to fully recover the state assets. Though some of the bad debt cases have been settled, others remained unresolved. The amounts of the recovered as well as the yet-to-be recovered credits even remained unclear.
There are at least three versions on the amounts of credits given to seven debtors that had remained bad. The first version is based on debt-acknowledgment's notes (Akta Pengakuan Utang -APU) of seven BLBI debtors, which, including interest and fines, amounted to Rp9.4 trillion.
The second version put the amounts of the bad credits at RP2.54 trillion. This amount derived from the APU notes but minus interest and fines. The interest and fines were not included based on the assumption the debtors had not failed to pay their debts.
The third version is based on the result of audits by the State Audit Board (BPK) which put the amount of the bad BLBI debts at Rp2.297 trillion.
It seems the government has agreed to the third version based on the BPK audits which put the amount of the bad BLBI credits at Rp2.297 trillion.
Wibowo said that the Rp93 trillion version included the interest and fines of seven debtors' bad credits while the RP2.297 trillion of the BPK version excluded the interest and the fines.
"The government needs to verify the two versions because debates over the two versions are still going on," Wibowo said.
Finance Minister Sri Mulyani said recently the government and the Commission XI had agreed that the total amount of the seven obligors' debts was Rp2.297 trillion. She said the figure was based on BPK verifications.
The seven debtors with Rp2.297 trillion consist of James and Adipura who owe the state Rp303 million, Atang Latief Rp155.72 billion, Ullung Bursa Rp424.64 billion, Omar Putihrai Rp159,1 billion, Marimutu Sinivasan Rp790,557 billion, Agus Anwar Rp577,813 billion and Lidya Muchtar Rp189,039 billion.
It was reported that some of the seven debtors have handed over assets to the state to cover their debts. For example, Omar Putihrai who owed the state Rp159.1 billion had handed over an asset which according to an independent appraisal was worth Rp158 billion.
Agus Anwar who has debts valued at rp577.813 billion has surrendered a plot of land worth Rp64.3 billion. Lidya Muchtar with debts worth Rp189.039 billion had turned over assets worth Rp561 million.
Thus, about 9.71 percent of the assets had been recovered. "We have recovered Rp223.01 billion of the 2.297 trillion BLBI credits, or about 9.71 percent," the minister said.
The DPR's Consultative Body (Bamus) at a meeting last month decided to invite President Yudhoyono to come to the parliament on February 12 to answer questions on the BLBI issue.
The Bamus's decision would be used as the formal basis for the DPR leadership to invite the President. The invitation to the President was sent on February 1, 2008.
A number of DPR members had proposed that the House exercise its interpellation right over the BLBI case. The DPR had formed a team of 13 legislators from various factions to draw up a list of questions to be addressed to the president.
According to the House's BLBI inquiry team, the BLBI credits plus other funds provided in connection with the policy then taken to restructure national banks have cost the state Rp702.5 trillion.
Of the amount, the BLBI accounted for Rp144.5 trillion, banking recapitulation bonds Rp425.5 trillion, guaranteeing program Rp73.8 trillion, bail out funds Rp4.9 trillion and BI escrow account 502 worth Rp53.8 trillion. (T.A014/A/HNG/B003).
(T.SYS/A/A014/B003) 11-02-2008 22:32:28
Jakarta, Feb 11 (ANTARA) - The government may face a corruption charge if it implements an agreement it has reached with members of the Financial Affairs Commission of the House Representatives (DPR) which puts the amount of debts of Bank Indonesia liquidity assistance (BLBI) debtors at Rp2.297 trillion.
The government has previously stated that seven BLBI debtors still owed the state Rp9.3 trillion. Thus, the state will suffer a loss of about Rp7 trillion if the government implements the decision it reached recently with the House's Financial Commission, which set the seven debtors' debts at Rp2.297 trillion.
"I am now reminding the government of a possible legal problem arising later on. This is because there would be possible parties who later on view that the debtors' Rp9.3 trillion debts have been reduced to Rp2.297 trillion that cost the state Rp7 trillion," Dradjad H Wibowo of the House Commission XI, which deals with financial affairs, said.
He said that the Rp2.297 trillion was illogical and the reduction of Rp7 trillion could be viewed as benefiting the debtors. In this case, there are elements of state losses, parties who enjoy them while some authority was being used in the process.
Thus, the elements of violation of an article in the corruption crimes are met. "This could later on invite legal experts or the attorney general to consider the case worth investigating," Wibowo said.
The BLBI refers to emergency liquidity credits extended by BI, the central bank, to commercial banks during the financial crisis which began in mid 1997. The credits were extended under the government's blanket guarantee program. Of the Rp144.5 trillion BLBI had extended since 1997, Rp51.7 trillion had turned bad.
The government had since tried to solve the BLBI problem but has met with still unsurmounted difficulties to fully recover the state assets. Though some of the bad debt cases have been settled, others remained unresolved. The amounts of the recovered as well as the yet-to-be recovered credits even remained unclear.
There are at least three versions on the amounts of credits given to seven debtors that had remained bad. The first version is based on debt-acknowledgment's notes (Akta Pengakuan Utang -APU) of seven BLBI debtors, which, including interest and fines, amounted to Rp9.4 trillion.
The second version put the amounts of the bad credits at RP2.54 trillion. This amount derived from the APU notes but minus interest and fines. The interest and fines were not included based on the assumption the debtors had not failed to pay their debts.
The third version is based on the result of audits by the State Audit Board (BPK) which put the amount of the bad BLBI debts at Rp2.297 trillion.
It seems the government has agreed to the third version based on the BPK audits which put the amount of the bad BLBI credits at Rp2.297 trillion.
Wibowo said that the Rp93 trillion version included the interest and fines of seven debtors' bad credits while the RP2.297 trillion of the BPK version excluded the interest and the fines.
"The government needs to verify the two versions because debates over the two versions are still going on," Wibowo said.
Finance Minister Sri Mulyani said recently the government and the Commission XI had agreed that the total amount of the seven obligors' debts was Rp2.297 trillion. She said the figure was based on BPK verifications.
The seven debtors with Rp2.297 trillion consist of James and Adipura who owe the state Rp303 million, Atang Latief Rp155.72 billion, Ullung Bursa Rp424.64 billion, Omar Putihrai Rp159,1 billion, Marimutu Sinivasan Rp790,557 billion, Agus Anwar Rp577,813 billion and Lidya Muchtar Rp189,039 billion.
It was reported that some of the seven debtors have handed over assets to the state to cover their debts. For example, Omar Putihrai who owed the state Rp159.1 billion had handed over an asset which according to an independent appraisal was worth Rp158 billion.
Agus Anwar who has debts valued at rp577.813 billion has surrendered a plot of land worth Rp64.3 billion. Lidya Muchtar with debts worth Rp189.039 billion had turned over assets worth Rp561 million.
Thus, about 9.71 percent of the assets had been recovered. "We have recovered Rp223.01 billion of the 2.297 trillion BLBI credits, or about 9.71 percent," the minister said.
The DPR's Consultative Body (Bamus) at a meeting last month decided to invite President Yudhoyono to come to the parliament on February 12 to answer questions on the BLBI issue.
The Bamus's decision would be used as the formal basis for the DPR leadership to invite the President. The invitation to the President was sent on February 1, 2008.
A number of DPR members had proposed that the House exercise its interpellation right over the BLBI case. The DPR had formed a team of 13 legislators from various factions to draw up a list of questions to be addressed to the president.
According to the House's BLBI inquiry team, the BLBI credits plus other funds provided in connection with the policy then taken to restructure national banks have cost the state Rp702.5 trillion.
Of the amount, the BLBI accounted for Rp144.5 trillion, banking recapitulation bonds Rp425.5 trillion, guaranteeing program Rp73.8 trillion, bail out funds Rp4.9 trillion and BI escrow account 502 worth Rp53.8 trillion. (T.A014/A/HNG/B003).
(T.SYS/A/A014/B003) 11-02-2008 22:32:28
HOUSE TO QUIZ GOVT OVER BI LIQUIDITY CREDITS
By Andi Abdussalam
Jakarta, Feb 8 (ANTARA) - The House of Representatives (DPR) has invited President Suailo Bambang Yudhoyono to attend a House plenary session on Tuesday (Feb 12) to answer questions about trillions of rupiahs in Bank Indonesia emergency liquidity credits (BLBI) which had turned bad since the financial crisis in 1997.
The DPR decided to question the president about the matter after tens of lawmakers submitted a proposal for the House to use its interpellation right on the government's policy to resolve the BLBI issue. Their proposal was approved by acclamation at a recent House plenary meeting.
In the face of the House interpellation on Tuesday, President Yudhoyono has ordered relevant ministers in his cabinet to prepare the necessary answers.
"The government will give good answers as the president has ordered the relevant ministers to prepare them," Presidential Spokesman Andi Mallarangeng said in Jakarta on Friday.
The BLBI refers to emergency liquidity credits extended by BI, the central bank, to commercial banks during the financial crisis which began in mid 1997. The credits were extended under the government's blanket guarantee program. Of the Rp164.5 trillion BLBI extended since 1997, Rp51.7 trillion had turned bad.
The government had since tried to solve the BLBI problem but has met with still unsurmounted difficulties to fully recover the state assets. Though some of the bad debt cases have been settled, others have remained unresolved. The amounts of the recovered as well as the yet-to-be recovered credits had even remained unclear.
There are at least three versions on the amounts of credits given to seven debtors that had remained bad. The first version is based on debt-ackowledgement notes (Akta Pengakuan Utang -APU) of seven BLBI obligors, which, including interest and fines, amounted to Rp9.4 trillion.
The second version put the amounts of the bad credits at RP2.54 trillion. This amount derived from the APU notes but minus interest and fines. The interest and fines were not included based on the assumption the obligors had not failed to pay their debts.
The third version is based on the result of audits by the State Audit Board (BPK) which put the amount of the bad BLBI debts at Rp2.297 trillion.
It seems the government has agreed to the third version based on the BPK audits which put the amount of the bad BLBI credits at Rp2.297 trillion.
Finance Minister Sri Mulyani said the government and the Financial Affairs Commission of the House of Representatives had agreed that the total amount of the seven obligors' debts was Rp2.297 trillion. She said the figure was based on BPK verifications.
The seven debtors with Rp2.297 trillion consist of James and Adipura who owe the state Rp303 million, Atang Latief Rp155.72 billion, Ullung Bursa Rp424.64 billion, Omar Putihrai Rp159,1 billion, Marimutu Sinivasan Rp790,557 billion, Agus Anwar Rp577,813 billion and Lidya Muchtar Rp189,039 billion.
It was reported that some of the seven debtors have handed over assets to the state to cover their debts. For example, Omar Putihrai who owed the state Rp159.1 billion had handed over an asset which according to an independent appraisal was worth Rp158 billion.
Agus Anwar who has debts valued at rp577.813 billion has surrendered a plot of land worth Rp64.3 billion. Lidya Muchtar with debts worth Rp189.039 billion had turned over assets worth Rp561 million.
Thus, about 9.71 percent of the assets had been recovered. "We have recovered Rp223.01 billion of the 2.297 trillion BLBI credits, or about 9.71 percent," the minister said.
It is about the yet-to-be recovered amounts that the House has invited President Yudhoyono to come to the parliament to answer questions.
But it was still unclear whether President Yudhoyono would come to the House in person to answer House members' questions.
"The President has asked relevant ministers to prepare the best possible answers by studying old documents. Although the case did not happen during the President Yudhoyono administration, the questions must be answered by the present president," Andi said.
According to political scientist AAGN Ari Dwipayana of the Gajah Mada Univerity, it would be better if President Yudhoyono himself come to the House to answer the interpellation. It would prove his seriousness to fight corruptions.
"The president's presence at the inquiries will convince the public and the House about the important position the president has on the fight against corruption," he said.
The DPR's Consultative Body (Bamus) at a meeting last month decided to invite President Yudhoyono to come to the parliament on February 12 to answer questions on the BLBI issue.
But it seems that the DPR would not object if the president did not come in person to deliver the government's replies.
"We are not questioning who will attend the inquires, whether the president himself or others such as the attorney general. The important thing is the government demonstrates its seriousness about it and this problem is settled," Ade Daud Nasution, the initiator of the interpellation, said. (T.A014/A/HAJM/B003) 2. 19:35. (T.A014/A/A014/B003) 08-02-2008 20:03:08
Jakarta, Feb 8 (ANTARA) - The House of Representatives (DPR) has invited President Suailo Bambang Yudhoyono to attend a House plenary session on Tuesday (Feb 12) to answer questions about trillions of rupiahs in Bank Indonesia emergency liquidity credits (BLBI) which had turned bad since the financial crisis in 1997.
The DPR decided to question the president about the matter after tens of lawmakers submitted a proposal for the House to use its interpellation right on the government's policy to resolve the BLBI issue. Their proposal was approved by acclamation at a recent House plenary meeting.
In the face of the House interpellation on Tuesday, President Yudhoyono has ordered relevant ministers in his cabinet to prepare the necessary answers.
"The government will give good answers as the president has ordered the relevant ministers to prepare them," Presidential Spokesman Andi Mallarangeng said in Jakarta on Friday.
The BLBI refers to emergency liquidity credits extended by BI, the central bank, to commercial banks during the financial crisis which began in mid 1997. The credits were extended under the government's blanket guarantee program. Of the Rp164.5 trillion BLBI extended since 1997, Rp51.7 trillion had turned bad.
The government had since tried to solve the BLBI problem but has met with still unsurmounted difficulties to fully recover the state assets. Though some of the bad debt cases have been settled, others have remained unresolved. The amounts of the recovered as well as the yet-to-be recovered credits had even remained unclear.
There are at least three versions on the amounts of credits given to seven debtors that had remained bad. The first version is based on debt-ackowledgement notes (Akta Pengakuan Utang -APU) of seven BLBI obligors, which, including interest and fines, amounted to Rp9.4 trillion.
The second version put the amounts of the bad credits at RP2.54 trillion. This amount derived from the APU notes but minus interest and fines. The interest and fines were not included based on the assumption the obligors had not failed to pay their debts.
The third version is based on the result of audits by the State Audit Board (BPK) which put the amount of the bad BLBI debts at Rp2.297 trillion.
It seems the government has agreed to the third version based on the BPK audits which put the amount of the bad BLBI credits at Rp2.297 trillion.
Finance Minister Sri Mulyani said the government and the Financial Affairs Commission of the House of Representatives had agreed that the total amount of the seven obligors' debts was Rp2.297 trillion. She said the figure was based on BPK verifications.
The seven debtors with Rp2.297 trillion consist of James and Adipura who owe the state Rp303 million, Atang Latief Rp155.72 billion, Ullung Bursa Rp424.64 billion, Omar Putihrai Rp159,1 billion, Marimutu Sinivasan Rp790,557 billion, Agus Anwar Rp577,813 billion and Lidya Muchtar Rp189,039 billion.
It was reported that some of the seven debtors have handed over assets to the state to cover their debts. For example, Omar Putihrai who owed the state Rp159.1 billion had handed over an asset which according to an independent appraisal was worth Rp158 billion.
Agus Anwar who has debts valued at rp577.813 billion has surrendered a plot of land worth Rp64.3 billion. Lidya Muchtar with debts worth Rp189.039 billion had turned over assets worth Rp561 million.
Thus, about 9.71 percent of the assets had been recovered. "We have recovered Rp223.01 billion of the 2.297 trillion BLBI credits, or about 9.71 percent," the minister said.
It is about the yet-to-be recovered amounts that the House has invited President Yudhoyono to come to the parliament to answer questions.
But it was still unclear whether President Yudhoyono would come to the House in person to answer House members' questions.
"The President has asked relevant ministers to prepare the best possible answers by studying old documents. Although the case did not happen during the President Yudhoyono administration, the questions must be answered by the present president," Andi said.
According to political scientist AAGN Ari Dwipayana of the Gajah Mada Univerity, it would be better if President Yudhoyono himself come to the House to answer the interpellation. It would prove his seriousness to fight corruptions.
"The president's presence at the inquiries will convince the public and the House about the important position the president has on the fight against corruption," he said.
The DPR's Consultative Body (Bamus) at a meeting last month decided to invite President Yudhoyono to come to the parliament on February 12 to answer questions on the BLBI issue.
But it seems that the DPR would not object if the president did not come in person to deliver the government's replies.
"We are not questioning who will attend the inquires, whether the president himself or others such as the attorney general. The important thing is the government demonstrates its seriousness about it and this problem is settled," Ade Daud Nasution, the initiator of the interpellation, said. (T.A014/A/HAJM/B003) 2. 19:35. (T.A014/A/A014/B003) 08-02-2008 20:03:08
OBSERVERS CLAIM DISCRIMINATION IN ANTI-GRAFT DRIVE
By Andi Abdussalam
Jakarta, Dec 26, (ANTARA) - Despite some success in prosecuting corruptors, the Indonesian government was viewed as acting discriminatory and inconsistent in fighting corruption.
Transparency International Indonesia chairman Todung Mulya Lubis said recently Indonesia's corruption perception index had dropped in 2007 by 0.1 points from 2.4 in 2006.
This was because the Indonesian public's memory had not yet changed and there was inconsistency and discrimination in corruption eradication efforts.
In the meantime, the Constitutional Court's (MK) action in stripping the Judicial Commission (KY) of its powers to supervise judges' rulings was seen as an inconsistent move in fighting graft.
After all, there were also unresolved alleged flow of funds from the central bank (BI) to lawmakers and acquittal of timber tycoon Adelin Lis which were all seen as an example of inconsistency in the drive to eradicate corruption.
On one occasion in April, former President Abdurahman 'Gur Dur' Wahid who is also the Chairman of the National Awakening Party's (PKB) Advisory Board said there was no meaningful progress in the country's effort to combat corruption, as discrimination in upholding the anti-corruption law was something unavoidable.
"The existing legal mechanism could not prevail in Indonesia. If there is an action to take a legal suit against a suspect, it is often confined in discrimination," Gus Dur said on the occasion of a meeting with some legislators and Constitutional Court's Chairman Jimly Ashidiqie in Jakarta.
Discrimination in combating corruption was too conspicuous in the sense that the action to persecute corruptors was mostly taken against former ranking officials who were close to former president Megawati.
Gus Dur disclosed two names of former ranking officials now in jail, namely Said Agil Husein Al Munawar (former religious minister) and Widjanarko Puspoyo, former chairman of the national logistic agency, while other top officials on the list of alleged corruptors appeared to be "untouchables".
But Constitutional Court's chairman Jimly Ashidiqie was careful in giving his opinion when asked to comment on existing discrimination in combating corruption.
"Discrimination is possible to prevail on account of the lack of legal enforcement authorities, while the number of cases is so huge," Jimly said.
Of course the government denied such alleged discrimination. "That's not true. All the processes followed the legal procedures and were based on existing evidence," Presidential spokesman Andi Mallarangeng said.
Quoting data from the presidential office's SMS center, he said nearly 95 percent of the complaints sent to the center were related to graft cases before 2004.
"This means that the number of graft cases tended to decline after 2004. But what is important is that all the graft cases have been handled in accordance with the prevailing legal procedures," he said.
The Constitutional Court was also criticized. The MK's Action in stripping the Judicial Commission (KY) of its powers to supervise court judges' rulings had made it more difficult to combat corruption committed in judiciary bodies.
"Given the public's low esteem of law-enforcement and the prevalence of judicial corruption in Indonesia, it is difficult for the Judicial Commission not to view every court sentence without suspicion," the Indonesian University Rectors' Forum Chairman Sofyan Effendi said.
The Constitutional Court's decision to declare the Judicial Commission's power to supervise court sentences unconstitutional was impeding efforts to reform law enforcement because now there was no power in the country that could handle suspicious court verdicts, said Sofyan.
Meanwhile, the investigation of alleged flow of funds from the central bank (BI) to lawmakers has been progressing in a snail's pace.
"We try to learn each information on the flow of the fund profoundly. But the step to be taken is still unclear," the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) Taufiequrrachman Ruki said in August.
The Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) on August 2, 2007, reported to the KPK on an alleged flow of fund from BI to the House of Representatives (DPR).
It was allegedly aimed at influencing the process of deliberations on bills on bank liquidation, BI budget, saving guarantee institutions and on bankruptcy.
The BI however had obtained a copy of the ICW document and established it was a fake because its format differed from that of authentic BI documents, Budi Mulya, BI's director for strategic planning and human relations had said.
He said in the ICW document the impression was created as if BI had carried out communications beyond the proper procedures. "We know that every activity carried out by BI is always based on an approved budget, including on communications and publicizing activities," he added.
Dissatisfaction over the fight against corruption was also voiced by Chairman of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Hidayat Nurwahid, regretting the fact in this country that corruption, collusion and nepotism (KKN) is not being eradicated optimally.
He took as example the trial of timber tycoon Adelin Lis, who had caused the state to suffer big losses for his illegal operations, was later acquitted of all charges leveled against him.
"I am very sad to learn that the suspect of illegal logging later walked free," he said. (T.A014/A/HNG/B003). (T.SYS/A/A014/B003) 27-12-2007 00:26:26
Jakarta, Dec 26, (ANTARA) - Despite some success in prosecuting corruptors, the Indonesian government was viewed as acting discriminatory and inconsistent in fighting corruption.
Transparency International Indonesia chairman Todung Mulya Lubis said recently Indonesia's corruption perception index had dropped in 2007 by 0.1 points from 2.4 in 2006.
This was because the Indonesian public's memory had not yet changed and there was inconsistency and discrimination in corruption eradication efforts.
In the meantime, the Constitutional Court's (MK) action in stripping the Judicial Commission (KY) of its powers to supervise judges' rulings was seen as an inconsistent move in fighting graft.
After all, there were also unresolved alleged flow of funds from the central bank (BI) to lawmakers and acquittal of timber tycoon Adelin Lis which were all seen as an example of inconsistency in the drive to eradicate corruption.
On one occasion in April, former President Abdurahman 'Gur Dur' Wahid who is also the Chairman of the National Awakening Party's (PKB) Advisory Board said there was no meaningful progress in the country's effort to combat corruption, as discrimination in upholding the anti-corruption law was something unavoidable.
"The existing legal mechanism could not prevail in Indonesia. If there is an action to take a legal suit against a suspect, it is often confined in discrimination," Gus Dur said on the occasion of a meeting with some legislators and Constitutional Court's Chairman Jimly Ashidiqie in Jakarta.
Discrimination in combating corruption was too conspicuous in the sense that the action to persecute corruptors was mostly taken against former ranking officials who were close to former president Megawati.
Gus Dur disclosed two names of former ranking officials now in jail, namely Said Agil Husein Al Munawar (former religious minister) and Widjanarko Puspoyo, former chairman of the national logistic agency, while other top officials on the list of alleged corruptors appeared to be "untouchables".
But Constitutional Court's chairman Jimly Ashidiqie was careful in giving his opinion when asked to comment on existing discrimination in combating corruption.
"Discrimination is possible to prevail on account of the lack of legal enforcement authorities, while the number of cases is so huge," Jimly said.
Of course the government denied such alleged discrimination. "That's not true. All the processes followed the legal procedures and were based on existing evidence," Presidential spokesman Andi Mallarangeng said.
Quoting data from the presidential office's SMS center, he said nearly 95 percent of the complaints sent to the center were related to graft cases before 2004.
"This means that the number of graft cases tended to decline after 2004. But what is important is that all the graft cases have been handled in accordance with the prevailing legal procedures," he said.
The Constitutional Court was also criticized. The MK's Action in stripping the Judicial Commission (KY) of its powers to supervise court judges' rulings had made it more difficult to combat corruption committed in judiciary bodies.
"Given the public's low esteem of law-enforcement and the prevalence of judicial corruption in Indonesia, it is difficult for the Judicial Commission not to view every court sentence without suspicion," the Indonesian University Rectors' Forum Chairman Sofyan Effendi said.
The Constitutional Court's decision to declare the Judicial Commission's power to supervise court sentences unconstitutional was impeding efforts to reform law enforcement because now there was no power in the country that could handle suspicious court verdicts, said Sofyan.
Meanwhile, the investigation of alleged flow of funds from the central bank (BI) to lawmakers has been progressing in a snail's pace.
"We try to learn each information on the flow of the fund profoundly. But the step to be taken is still unclear," the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) Taufiequrrachman Ruki said in August.
The Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) on August 2, 2007, reported to the KPK on an alleged flow of fund from BI to the House of Representatives (DPR).
It was allegedly aimed at influencing the process of deliberations on bills on bank liquidation, BI budget, saving guarantee institutions and on bankruptcy.
The BI however had obtained a copy of the ICW document and established it was a fake because its format differed from that of authentic BI documents, Budi Mulya, BI's director for strategic planning and human relations had said.
He said in the ICW document the impression was created as if BI had carried out communications beyond the proper procedures. "We know that every activity carried out by BI is always based on an approved budget, including on communications and publicizing activities," he added.
Dissatisfaction over the fight against corruption was also voiced by Chairman of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Hidayat Nurwahid, regretting the fact in this country that corruption, collusion and nepotism (KKN) is not being eradicated optimally.
He took as example the trial of timber tycoon Adelin Lis, who had caused the state to suffer big losses for his illegal operations, was later acquitted of all charges leveled against him.
"I am very sad to learn that the suspect of illegal logging later walked free," he said. (T.A014/A/HNG/B003). (T.SYS/A/A014/B003) 27-12-2007 00:26:26
GOVT ACHIEVEMENT ON CORRUPTION CRACK-DOWN STILL LOW
By Andi Abdussalam
Jakarta, Dec 25 (ANTARA) - The government's commitment to cracking down on corruption has been high but its implementation in the field is still weak so that achievements had been short of expectations.
People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Chairman Hidayat Nur Wahid said he was not satisfied with the result of the corruption eradication efforts in the country although law enforcers appeared to be continuously dealing with one corruption case after the other.
"Indonesia's corruption perception index continues to decline," he said after a get-together with cadres of the Prosperous Justice Party in Pontianak, West Kalimantan in October.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has stressed on various occasions the government's commitment to combatting corruption and all its aspects, at central government level down to regional administration level.
"The head of state put emphasis on continued efforts to root out corruption in the country," Chairman of the Indonesian International Transparency Council (ITC) Todung Mulya Lubis said after reporting the results of a survey of the Indonesian Corruption Perception Index in February.
In the survey, interaction between corruption and bribery had been rife in many government agencies especially in vertical institutions.
With around 1,760 business players from 32 provinces as respondents, the survey showed that there was a rise in the commitment of regional leaders to combat corruption, but its implementation bogged down in the field.
Vertical institutions like the police, judicial institutions, taxation, the national land agency, immigration, customs and excise, lacked contribution to corruption eradication.
Judicial institutions were reportedly the most involved in corrupt practices, and at a rate of 100 pct in receiving bribes, followed by customs and excise with a rate of 95 percent, immigration 90 percent, the national land agency 84 percent, the police 78 percent and the taxation authorities 76 percent.
Although he was dissatisfied, MPR Chairman Hidayat Nur Wahid however admitted the government had high commitment to cracking down on corruption.
The increasing number of suspected corruption cases being handled by law enforcers indicated that quantitatively the government's commitment to corruption eradication has improved.
"Now tens of governors, mayors, legislators and even law enforcers themselves have been netted in alleged corruption cases," he said.
But he was sorry to learn the decline in Indonesia's corruption perception index.
Transparency International Indonesia (TII) recently reported Indonesia's corruption perception index in 2007 had dropped by 0.1 points from 2.4 in 2006.
With a score of 2.3, Indonesia now ranked 143rd among 179 countries surveyed, putting it at the same level as Gambia, Russia and Togo. Timor Leste was placed higher than Indonesia, namely in the 123rd rank with a score of 2.6.
TII chairman Todung Mulya Lubis said Indonesia's corruption perception index had dropped because the Indonesian public's memory had not yet changed and there was inconsistency and discrimination in corruption eradication efforts.
Therefore, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono continued to urge law enforcers, government officials and institutions, including state-owned companies to help eradicate corruption practices.
He called on all state-owned companies to rid themselves of their stigma as a hotbed of corruptive, collusive,-and nepotistic practices.
"Shake off the stigma attached to state firms. The legal processes a number of directors of state firms had to undergo lately attested to the stigma," he said when addressing the opening of a state firms' coordination meeting at the Jakarta Convention Center in April.
The stigma could be erased if state firms were committed to and serious about managing their businesses by applying the principles of good corporate governance and promoting a sound corporate culture, he said.
Besides state companies, government ministries were also asked to help combat corruption. Ministries' unofficial accounts were viewed to be a source of non-budgetary funds which were often abused by state officials.
The Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) urged the law-enforcing agencies in the country to investigate the numerous accounts in which many government departments are believed to be keeping their so-called non-budgetary funds.
"If necessary, just wipe out those accounts because the money they hold can be easily spent in inappropriate ways," Danang said.
The State Audit Board (BPK) had actually provided the government with information on the existence of hundreds of non-budgetary fund accounts at government ministries or departments but until now the government had made no significant follow-up effort on the BPK's input.
In spite of all these, the government through its anti-corruption agency, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), had tried its best to fight corruption.
The KPK has succeeded in securing around Rp159 billion of state money from various corruption cases it had handled.
KPK Deputy Chairman Tumpak H Panggabean, said last month that Rp60 billion of the total amount had already been transferred to the state, while the rest was still being processed.
(T.A014/A/HNG/b005) 2. 00:55 (T.A014/A/A014/B005) 26-12-2007 00:52:09
Jakarta, Dec 25 (ANTARA) - The government's commitment to cracking down on corruption has been high but its implementation in the field is still weak so that achievements had been short of expectations.
People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Chairman Hidayat Nur Wahid said he was not satisfied with the result of the corruption eradication efforts in the country although law enforcers appeared to be continuously dealing with one corruption case after the other.
"Indonesia's corruption perception index continues to decline," he said after a get-together with cadres of the Prosperous Justice Party in Pontianak, West Kalimantan in October.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has stressed on various occasions the government's commitment to combatting corruption and all its aspects, at central government level down to regional administration level.
"The head of state put emphasis on continued efforts to root out corruption in the country," Chairman of the Indonesian International Transparency Council (ITC) Todung Mulya Lubis said after reporting the results of a survey of the Indonesian Corruption Perception Index in February.
In the survey, interaction between corruption and bribery had been rife in many government agencies especially in vertical institutions.
With around 1,760 business players from 32 provinces as respondents, the survey showed that there was a rise in the commitment of regional leaders to combat corruption, but its implementation bogged down in the field.
Vertical institutions like the police, judicial institutions, taxation, the national land agency, immigration, customs and excise, lacked contribution to corruption eradication.
Judicial institutions were reportedly the most involved in corrupt practices, and at a rate of 100 pct in receiving bribes, followed by customs and excise with a rate of 95 percent, immigration 90 percent, the national land agency 84 percent, the police 78 percent and the taxation authorities 76 percent.
Although he was dissatisfied, MPR Chairman Hidayat Nur Wahid however admitted the government had high commitment to cracking down on corruption.
The increasing number of suspected corruption cases being handled by law enforcers indicated that quantitatively the government's commitment to corruption eradication has improved.
"Now tens of governors, mayors, legislators and even law enforcers themselves have been netted in alleged corruption cases," he said.
But he was sorry to learn the decline in Indonesia's corruption perception index.
Transparency International Indonesia (TII) recently reported Indonesia's corruption perception index in 2007 had dropped by 0.1 points from 2.4 in 2006.
With a score of 2.3, Indonesia now ranked 143rd among 179 countries surveyed, putting it at the same level as Gambia, Russia and Togo. Timor Leste was placed higher than Indonesia, namely in the 123rd rank with a score of 2.6.
TII chairman Todung Mulya Lubis said Indonesia's corruption perception index had dropped because the Indonesian public's memory had not yet changed and there was inconsistency and discrimination in corruption eradication efforts.
Therefore, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono continued to urge law enforcers, government officials and institutions, including state-owned companies to help eradicate corruption practices.
He called on all state-owned companies to rid themselves of their stigma as a hotbed of corruptive, collusive,-and nepotistic practices.
"Shake off the stigma attached to state firms. The legal processes a number of directors of state firms had to undergo lately attested to the stigma," he said when addressing the opening of a state firms' coordination meeting at the Jakarta Convention Center in April.
The stigma could be erased if state firms were committed to and serious about managing their businesses by applying the principles of good corporate governance and promoting a sound corporate culture, he said.
Besides state companies, government ministries were also asked to help combat corruption. Ministries' unofficial accounts were viewed to be a source of non-budgetary funds which were often abused by state officials.
The Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) urged the law-enforcing agencies in the country to investigate the numerous accounts in which many government departments are believed to be keeping their so-called non-budgetary funds.
"If necessary, just wipe out those accounts because the money they hold can be easily spent in inappropriate ways," Danang said.
The State Audit Board (BPK) had actually provided the government with information on the existence of hundreds of non-budgetary fund accounts at government ministries or departments but until now the government had made no significant follow-up effort on the BPK's input.
In spite of all these, the government through its anti-corruption agency, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), had tried its best to fight corruption.
The KPK has succeeded in securing around Rp159 billion of state money from various corruption cases it had handled.
KPK Deputy Chairman Tumpak H Panggabean, said last month that Rp60 billion of the total amount had already been transferred to the state, while the rest was still being processed.
(T.A014/A/HNG/b005) 2. 00:55 (T.A014/A/A014/B005) 26-12-2007 00:52:09
CAN CORRUPTORS BE BROUGHT BACK TO INDONESIA?
By Andi Abdussalam
Jakarta, April 29 (ANTARA) - The signing on Saturday of an extradition treaty between Indonesia and Singapore gives new hope to Jakarta to bring back fugitive corruptors and retrieve the ill-gotten money they have deposited in the neighboring country.
When it was signed in Bali, however, the extradition deal received mixed reactions at home - optimism and pessimism -- on its effectiveness to bring back the money of the state stashed away somethere in Singapore.
The conclusion of the extradition agreement itself was described as a breakthrough of President Susilo Bambang Yudhonono. Indonesia had tried to conclude an extradition treaty with Singapore for over three decades.
At least the Yudhoyono government was viewed as successful in convincing Singapore of its seriousness to crack down on corruption and money laundering.
"The agreement constitutes a form of breakthrough by President Yudhoyono in combating corruption and money laundering," lawyers Suhadi and Syamsul Dalal in Lampung province said.
Calls for an imminent implementation of the agreement were therefore made by many quarters, among others,the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) and the House of Representatives (DPR).
MPR chairman Hidayat Nurwahid urged the DPR to ratify immediately the extradition treaty. "Although it is a little bit late, I highly welcome the agreement because it will help the authorities settle the problem of corrupted Bank Indonesia Liquidity Assistance (BLBI) funds stashed away in Singapore," he said.
Hope for the use of the extradition treaty momentum to arrest fugitive corruptors was also raised by DPR Chairman Agung Laksono.
"Members of the Indonesian parliament, political parties and non-governmental organizations all hoped that the extradition treaty would be a great help in arresting Indonesian corruptors who had fled to Singapore," he said.
An expression of optimism also came from Vice President Jusuf Kalla. He said that the extradition treaty would serve as an effective means to force fugitive corruptors to return to Indonesia.
"As long as the treaty is based on cooperation, I am optimistic that it will be an effective means to force corrupters who had fled from Indonesia to return," he said.
Kalla said Indonesia wanted to recover the money which was illegally stashed away in Singapore. "That is why, I am optimistic that if the agreement is implemented well, it will be effective," the vice president said.
If implemented well, the extradition will benefit not only Indonesia but Singapore as well.
"Indonesia and Singapore will both benefit from the extradition treaty," political scientist Beginda Pakpahan of the University of Indonesia (UI) said.
The extradition pact would improve Singapore's credibility because by the agreement it would look cleaner and more credible in the eyes of the law and to the international community he said.
Singapore's reputation will rise when it is prepared to cooperate with Indonesia in taking action against transnational criminals in Southeast Asia, he added.
Singapore is an alleged money laundering center for corrupt businesspeople. According to a report by Tempo magazine last October, for a long time Singapore had been a refuge for 'problem' business people from Indonesia.
It quoted data from the Indonesian embassy in Singapore that some 200 debtors who owned money to the state were hiding in this tiny nation since the fall of the Soeharto administration in 1998.
Included among them are Sukanto Tanoto, Sjamsul Nursalim, Liem Sioe Liong, Eka Tjipta Widjaja, Bambang Sutrisno, Agus Anwar, Lidia Muchtar and Pauline Maria Lumowa.
According to Tempo, the number of rich people in Singapore in 2005 grew by 13.4 percent to 55,000, with a total wealth of around US$260 billion.
About one-third, or 18,000, of them are Indonesian citizens. According to Tempo, quoting Marrill Lynch, their total wealth amounts to US$87 billion.
But Indonesia has not yet ascertained how much ill-gotten money it could retrieve from Singapore. Asked how much of the stolen money could be retrieved by virtue of the extradition treaty, Vice President Jusuf Kalla said this was still being calculated.
"What can be recovered are funds deposited in Singapore by those who were convicted by Indonesian courts while the amount of funds hidden by fugitives yet to be convicted is still being calculated," he said.
While the vice president is optimistic about the extradition treaty, some observers expressed pessimism. Singapore is basically reluctant to have such a treaty that forced Indonesia to wait for about 33 years before they could reach agreement to sign it.
"We have been patiently waiting for 33 years since 1974 before Singapore is prepared to sign the extradition treaty with Indonesia," Secretary of the Golkar Party Faction of the MPR, Hajriyanto Y Thohari said.
In the meantime, political observer Bantarto Bandoro of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), said differences between the legal processes in Indonesia and Singapore may hamper the implementation of the extradition treaty.
In Singapore, someone suspected of a crime in another country, can be extradited only by a court order while in Indonesia it can be done by a government official's decision, he said.
"And this will have implications in the system as deciding the perpetrator of a crime is subjective in nature. A perpetrator can be classified as violating the law here but over there, he or she may just be viewed as not guilty," Bandoro said.
Pessimism on bringing back corruptors to Indonesia was also voiced by Attorney General Abdurrahman Saleh. He admitted that the problem was not as easy as it sounds. "It is not impossible that they have already left Singapore when we were still negotiating the agreement," he said. (A014/A/HNG/B/O001)
Jakarta, April 29 (ANTARA) - The signing on Saturday of an extradition treaty between Indonesia and Singapore gives new hope to Jakarta to bring back fugitive corruptors and retrieve the ill-gotten money they have deposited in the neighboring country.
When it was signed in Bali, however, the extradition deal received mixed reactions at home - optimism and pessimism -- on its effectiveness to bring back the money of the state stashed away somethere in Singapore.
The conclusion of the extradition agreement itself was described as a breakthrough of President Susilo Bambang Yudhonono. Indonesia had tried to conclude an extradition treaty with Singapore for over three decades.
At least the Yudhoyono government was viewed as successful in convincing Singapore of its seriousness to crack down on corruption and money laundering.
"The agreement constitutes a form of breakthrough by President Yudhoyono in combating corruption and money laundering," lawyers Suhadi and Syamsul Dalal in Lampung province said.
Calls for an imminent implementation of the agreement were therefore made by many quarters, among others,the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) and the House of Representatives (DPR).
MPR chairman Hidayat Nurwahid urged the DPR to ratify immediately the extradition treaty. "Although it is a little bit late, I highly welcome the agreement because it will help the authorities settle the problem of corrupted Bank Indonesia Liquidity Assistance (BLBI) funds stashed away in Singapore," he said.
Hope for the use of the extradition treaty momentum to arrest fugitive corruptors was also raised by DPR Chairman Agung Laksono.
"Members of the Indonesian parliament, political parties and non-governmental organizations all hoped that the extradition treaty would be a great help in arresting Indonesian corruptors who had fled to Singapore," he said.
An expression of optimism also came from Vice President Jusuf Kalla. He said that the extradition treaty would serve as an effective means to force fugitive corruptors to return to Indonesia.
"As long as the treaty is based on cooperation, I am optimistic that it will be an effective means to force corrupters who had fled from Indonesia to return," he said.
Kalla said Indonesia wanted to recover the money which was illegally stashed away in Singapore. "That is why, I am optimistic that if the agreement is implemented well, it will be effective," the vice president said.
If implemented well, the extradition will benefit not only Indonesia but Singapore as well.
"Indonesia and Singapore will both benefit from the extradition treaty," political scientist Beginda Pakpahan of the University of Indonesia (UI) said.
The extradition pact would improve Singapore's credibility because by the agreement it would look cleaner and more credible in the eyes of the law and to the international community he said.
Singapore's reputation will rise when it is prepared to cooperate with Indonesia in taking action against transnational criminals in Southeast Asia, he added.
Singapore is an alleged money laundering center for corrupt businesspeople. According to a report by Tempo magazine last October, for a long time Singapore had been a refuge for 'problem' business people from Indonesia.
It quoted data from the Indonesian embassy in Singapore that some 200 debtors who owned money to the state were hiding in this tiny nation since the fall of the Soeharto administration in 1998.
Included among them are Sukanto Tanoto, Sjamsul Nursalim, Liem Sioe Liong, Eka Tjipta Widjaja, Bambang Sutrisno, Agus Anwar, Lidia Muchtar and Pauline Maria Lumowa.
According to Tempo, the number of rich people in Singapore in 2005 grew by 13.4 percent to 55,000, with a total wealth of around US$260 billion.
About one-third, or 18,000, of them are Indonesian citizens. According to Tempo, quoting Marrill Lynch, their total wealth amounts to US$87 billion.
But Indonesia has not yet ascertained how much ill-gotten money it could retrieve from Singapore. Asked how much of the stolen money could be retrieved by virtue of the extradition treaty, Vice President Jusuf Kalla said this was still being calculated.
"What can be recovered are funds deposited in Singapore by those who were convicted by Indonesian courts while the amount of funds hidden by fugitives yet to be convicted is still being calculated," he said.
While the vice president is optimistic about the extradition treaty, some observers expressed pessimism. Singapore is basically reluctant to have such a treaty that forced Indonesia to wait for about 33 years before they could reach agreement to sign it.
"We have been patiently waiting for 33 years since 1974 before Singapore is prepared to sign the extradition treaty with Indonesia," Secretary of the Golkar Party Faction of the MPR, Hajriyanto Y Thohari said.
In the meantime, political observer Bantarto Bandoro of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), said differences between the legal processes in Indonesia and Singapore may hamper the implementation of the extradition treaty.
In Singapore, someone suspected of a crime in another country, can be extradited only by a court order while in Indonesia it can be done by a government official's decision, he said.
"And this will have implications in the system as deciding the perpetrator of a crime is subjective in nature. A perpetrator can be classified as violating the law here but over there, he or she may just be viewed as not guilty," Bandoro said.
Pessimism on bringing back corruptors to Indonesia was also voiced by Attorney General Abdurrahman Saleh. He admitted that the problem was not as easy as it sounds. "It is not impossible that they have already left Singapore when we were still negotiating the agreement," he said. (A014/A/HNG/B/O001)
GOVT-TOMMY'S LEGAL BATTLE OVER MONEY AT BANK PARIBAS
By Andi Abdussalam
Jakarta, March 25 (ANTARA)- The Indonesian government and a former ruler's son, Hutomo Mandala Putra, more popularly known as Tommy Soeharto, are fighting for a legal battle at Guernsey court in England, over a deposit of Rp630 billion at Bank Paribas.
Various quarters in Indonesia, including the House of Representatives and the Attorney General's Office, are focusing attention on the money, suspected to have come from Tommy's illegal business operations in Indonesia, and stashed at the bank as part of money laundering.
The cacophonous part of the affair was the unraveling of the facts that besides the Rp630 billion now being fought for at the court, Tommy still managed withdraw US$10 million from a London branch of Bank Paribas with alleged implications of two Indonesian cabinet ministers.
Suspicion arose as the money was transferred to a Justice and Human Rights' bank account at a BNI branch in South Jakarta. Reportedly the money was transferred to the ministry's account under a ruling of British law.
"The government must soon clarify the money, whether or not it is legally owned by Tommy, or Tommy could have withdrawn it because 'something' had made the transfer possible," House Speaker Agung Laksono said recently.
How did all this begin? According to a report by Tempo magazine early this week, Tommy, through his companies -- Garnet Investment Ltd and PT Motorbike -- deposited funds in two branches of the Banque Nationale de Paris (BNP) Paribas, a famous private European bank based in Paris, France.
Garnet Ltd, which is based the British Virgin Islands, deposited the funds in Bank Paribas' Guernsey branch, while Motorbike, which is registered in the Bahamas, one of the Caribbean islands, deposited its funds in the London branch.
The deposits were quite significant. About Rp630 billion is in the Guernsey branch while over US$10 million was deposited in the London branch.
However, Paribas later froze the two accounts at the request of the Financial Intelligence Service (FIS), a financial monitoring body based in the United Kingdom. The FIS suspected that the funds came from Tommy's illegal business operations in Indonesia.
According to 'Tempo', when Tommy tried to withdraw the funds from the London branch, Paribas refused to release the money. The bank suspected the funds were part of money laundering.
Paribas set a condition: the money can be released at verification from the Indonesian government. The verification should say that Motorbike and its owners had nothing to do with money laundering.
Tommy asked for assistance of the Justice and Human Rights Ministry, which at that time was headed by Yusril Ihza Mahendra. Tommy was able to secure the verification.
It was reported that the verification was issued after the Justice and Human Rights Ministry received a confidential letter from the state Financial Transactions, Reporting and Analysis Center (PPATK) which said it did not find any suspicious financial transactions involving Tommy's in its data base.
Finally, Tommy succeeded in withdrawing the money from the London branch of Paribas, amounting to US$10 million and transferred to the Justice and Human Rights' bank account at a BNI branch in South Jakarta in June 2005.
At that time, Hamid Awaludin had been appointed minister for justice and human rights, while Yusril named minister/state secretary. Acting as broker for the funds' disbursement was the Ihza & Ihza law firm owned by Yusril.
However, Tommy's attempt to withdraw the money from the other BNP Paribas branch, namely the Guernsey branch of Bank Paribas, were denied.
Because he failed to withdraw the Rp630 billion, Tommy filed a law suit against Paribas in the British Guernsey court for he claimed the bank had refused to disburse his money.
As the case is taken to court, the Indonesian government is intervening in the case if to a certain extent it involved illegal money.
"The Attorney General's Office is intervening in the case because it is being taken to the Guernsey court," Attorney General Abdul Rahman Saleh said.
Saleh said he would follow the developments of the case, because Hamid Awaluddin and Yusril Ihza Mahendra believed that the withdrawal of the US$10 million from Bank Paribas, London, was legal.
He said the disbursement of the US$10 million from Paribas, London, would not affect his office's intervention in the Guernsey case.
"The question now arises why did'nt the bank tell the Indonesian embassy when it disbursed the money from the London branch," Saleh said.
As to the US$10 million which has been transferred from London, House Speaker Agung Laksono said the government had to clarify it soon as its disbursement was linked to two cabinet ministers.
He said that the money should be returned to the state if it turned out that Tommy obtained the money illegally.
"But we cannot make a judgment before the government clarifies it openly to the public. If he got the money illegally, it should be confiscated and be returned to the state but the government should not arbitrarily do this if he had earned it lawfully," he said.
The House Speaker had suggested the government to openly clarify the money to the public so that it would not spark controversies and tarnish the image of the government in its efforts to crack down on corruption.
Andi Mattalatta, chairman of the Golkar Party faction in the House urged the Police Chief, the Attorney General and the PPATK to investigate the transfer of Tommy's money from BNP Paribas to the ministry's account.
He said the law enforcing agencies needed to take immediate steps so that the matter would not backfire on the government which is currently stepping up its anti-corruption drive.
Meanwhile, House of Representatives Deputy Speaker Soetardjo Soerjoguritno said if the transfer of the US$10 million to the account of the Law and Human Rights Ministry proves to be illegal, they should be confiscated by the state.
But the 'Tempo' report said that the US$10 million only stayed two days in the bank account of the Justice and Human Rights Ministry before it was diverted to various other places.
While the US$10 billion at the London branch has gone before its legal status is made clear, the government is now anxiously waiting to see in whose favor the Guernsey court would issue a ruling with regard to the other Rp630 billion at Bank Paribas' Guernsey branch. (A014/A/HNG/B003). (T.A014/A/A014/B003) 26-03-2007 00:44:13
Jakarta, March 25 (ANTARA)- The Indonesian government and a former ruler's son, Hutomo Mandala Putra, more popularly known as Tommy Soeharto, are fighting for a legal battle at Guernsey court in England, over a deposit of Rp630 billion at Bank Paribas.
Various quarters in Indonesia, including the House of Representatives and the Attorney General's Office, are focusing attention on the money, suspected to have come from Tommy's illegal business operations in Indonesia, and stashed at the bank as part of money laundering.
The cacophonous part of the affair was the unraveling of the facts that besides the Rp630 billion now being fought for at the court, Tommy still managed withdraw US$10 million from a London branch of Bank Paribas with alleged implications of two Indonesian cabinet ministers.
Suspicion arose as the money was transferred to a Justice and Human Rights' bank account at a BNI branch in South Jakarta. Reportedly the money was transferred to the ministry's account under a ruling of British law.
"The government must soon clarify the money, whether or not it is legally owned by Tommy, or Tommy could have withdrawn it because 'something' had made the transfer possible," House Speaker Agung Laksono said recently.
How did all this begin? According to a report by Tempo magazine early this week, Tommy, through his companies -- Garnet Investment Ltd and PT Motorbike -- deposited funds in two branches of the Banque Nationale de Paris (BNP) Paribas, a famous private European bank based in Paris, France.
Garnet Ltd, which is based the British Virgin Islands, deposited the funds in Bank Paribas' Guernsey branch, while Motorbike, which is registered in the Bahamas, one of the Caribbean islands, deposited its funds in the London branch.
The deposits were quite significant. About Rp630 billion is in the Guernsey branch while over US$10 million was deposited in the London branch.
However, Paribas later froze the two accounts at the request of the Financial Intelligence Service (FIS), a financial monitoring body based in the United Kingdom. The FIS suspected that the funds came from Tommy's illegal business operations in Indonesia.
According to 'Tempo', when Tommy tried to withdraw the funds from the London branch, Paribas refused to release the money. The bank suspected the funds were part of money laundering.
Paribas set a condition: the money can be released at verification from the Indonesian government. The verification should say that Motorbike and its owners had nothing to do with money laundering.
Tommy asked for assistance of the Justice and Human Rights Ministry, which at that time was headed by Yusril Ihza Mahendra. Tommy was able to secure the verification.
It was reported that the verification was issued after the Justice and Human Rights Ministry received a confidential letter from the state Financial Transactions, Reporting and Analysis Center (PPATK) which said it did not find any suspicious financial transactions involving Tommy's in its data base.
Finally, Tommy succeeded in withdrawing the money from the London branch of Paribas, amounting to US$10 million and transferred to the Justice and Human Rights' bank account at a BNI branch in South Jakarta in June 2005.
At that time, Hamid Awaludin had been appointed minister for justice and human rights, while Yusril named minister/state secretary. Acting as broker for the funds' disbursement was the Ihza & Ihza law firm owned by Yusril.
However, Tommy's attempt to withdraw the money from the other BNP Paribas branch, namely the Guernsey branch of Bank Paribas, were denied.
Because he failed to withdraw the Rp630 billion, Tommy filed a law suit against Paribas in the British Guernsey court for he claimed the bank had refused to disburse his money.
As the case is taken to court, the Indonesian government is intervening in the case if to a certain extent it involved illegal money.
"The Attorney General's Office is intervening in the case because it is being taken to the Guernsey court," Attorney General Abdul Rahman Saleh said.
Saleh said he would follow the developments of the case, because Hamid Awaluddin and Yusril Ihza Mahendra believed that the withdrawal of the US$10 million from Bank Paribas, London, was legal.
He said the disbursement of the US$10 million from Paribas, London, would not affect his office's intervention in the Guernsey case.
"The question now arises why did'nt the bank tell the Indonesian embassy when it disbursed the money from the London branch," Saleh said.
As to the US$10 million which has been transferred from London, House Speaker Agung Laksono said the government had to clarify it soon as its disbursement was linked to two cabinet ministers.
He said that the money should be returned to the state if it turned out that Tommy obtained the money illegally.
"But we cannot make a judgment before the government clarifies it openly to the public. If he got the money illegally, it should be confiscated and be returned to the state but the government should not arbitrarily do this if he had earned it lawfully," he said.
The House Speaker had suggested the government to openly clarify the money to the public so that it would not spark controversies and tarnish the image of the government in its efforts to crack down on corruption.
Andi Mattalatta, chairman of the Golkar Party faction in the House urged the Police Chief, the Attorney General and the PPATK to investigate the transfer of Tommy's money from BNP Paribas to the ministry's account.
He said the law enforcing agencies needed to take immediate steps so that the matter would not backfire on the government which is currently stepping up its anti-corruption drive.
Meanwhile, House of Representatives Deputy Speaker Soetardjo Soerjoguritno said if the transfer of the US$10 million to the account of the Law and Human Rights Ministry proves to be illegal, they should be confiscated by the state.
But the 'Tempo' report said that the US$10 million only stayed two days in the bank account of the Justice and Human Rights Ministry before it was diverted to various other places.
While the US$10 billion at the London branch has gone before its legal status is made clear, the government is now anxiously waiting to see in whose favor the Guernsey court would issue a ruling with regard to the other Rp630 billion at Bank Paribas' Guernsey branch. (A014/A/HNG/B003). (T.A014/A/A014/B003) 26-03-2007 00:44:13
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