http://www.asiasentinel.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2124&Itemid=175
Indonesia's Corruption-Fighters Under Fire
Written by Our Correspondent
Friday, 30 October 2009
Chandra Hamza (Photo: Jakarta Globe)Tape transcripts catch officials
conspiring to frame anticorruption operatives
In an astonishingly public confrontation in Indonesia's law enforcement
establishment, National Police Thursday arrested two senior members of the
country's Corruption Eradication Commission despite widely distributed
transcripts indicating that law enforcement officials had been caught on tape
conspiring to frame the two.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono summoned ministers and law enforcement
officials to his office Friday to ask why the investigators, Chandra Hamzah and
Bibit Samad Rianto, both deputy chairmen of the anti-corruption agency, had
been arrested, demanding an explanation from National Police Chief Bambang
Hendarso Danuri.
The battle between the two agencies, one widely perceived as
incorruptible, the other as notoriously tainted, is being fought out in
Indonesia's increasingly feisty press, which chafed for decades under former
strongman Suharto. The matter is coming home to roost for Yudhoyono, whose
reputation as a corruption-fighter, which played a major role in getting him
elected in 2003 and again in July, is in the balance.
Although the president reportedly was furious over implications in
wiretapped conversations of an Attorney General's office official that he was
in favor of the arrest of the two, publicly he was circumspect. His office
issued a statement saying he was "concerned as to the growing opinion as if the
government took an unfair stance to other people, whereas if the police detain
somebody, it's just the beginning of a legal process and it doesn't mean that a
verdict is issued." His press secretary said he was urging officials to "honor
the ongoing legal process."
"It is not an extraordinary thing for a person who is under investigation
to be arrested," Yudhoyono told reporters in a 3 pm press conference at the
State Palace. "It has become a controversy because both of them are KPK (the
anti-corruption agency's Indonesian-language initials) leaders and many people
did not believe that KPK leaders could commit a corruption-related crime, and
also (there is) the issue of friction between KPK and the police over the last
three months."
Yudhoyono's caution aside, no credible evidence has emerged to indicate
that the two were involved in abuse of power or extortion, as the police
charged. The two were being held at National Police headquarters in a major
escalation of the legal battle between the two agencies although police
appeared to be backing down Friday, saying the two could be released if they
felt they were being held unfairly.
Indonesia's press has been having a field day with tape transcripts
purportedly of a businessman under investigation by the anti-corruption agency
in conversation with a then-member of the Attorney General's office discussing
testimony that witnesses should give in order to convict the two
anti-corruption officials. In addition, the House of Representatives Justice
Commission said it would summon officials to explain the arrests next week.
Deputy Chief Detective Inspector General Dikdik Mulyana refused to
comment on the widely published transcripts, saying: "Please complain to us if
you have the transcript records. You ask about something that you yourself have
written up in your media."
And, he said, "We will practice our right to hold the (the two) under
arrest for 20 days at National Police headquarters. This decision has nothing
to do with outside opinion. If there are any objections, please file a
pre-trial motion against us."
The anti-corruption agency was said to be investigating top national
police officials in connection to a graft case involving fugitive businessman
Anggoro Widjojo, the director of a company called PT Mararo Radiokom, who
allegedly bribed at least four lawmakers and several forestry ministry
officials in connection with an Rp180 billion (US$12.7 million) radio
communication system procurement project for the Forestry Ministry. One of the
four lawmakers, Yusuf Erwin Faishal, is already in prison and the other three
have been named as suspects in the case. Anggoro fled the country for Singapore.
Anti-corruption officials who tapped the telephone of Susno Duaji, the
National Police Head of Detectives, reportedly discovered that Susno had met
with Anggoro in Singapore three days after the agency named had him a suspect
in the bribery case. Susno publicly expressed his anger over the wiretap, which
also reportedly linked him to bribery in the collapse due to fraud of Bank
Century late last year. Talk of bribery over the phone, he said, was simply a
"counterintelligence measure."
Since its founding in 2002, the agency, with powers of investigation and,
until now its own court, has increasingly got under the skin of some of the
country's top politicians, law enforcement officials and businessmen. It boasts
a`100 percent conviction rate. Efforts have been made in the lower house of the
Indonesian legislature to hamstring its powers, including diluting the
independence of the anti-corruption court set up to try cases brought by the
agency.
Attorney general's office officials, alarmed by Yudhoyono's demand for an
investigation, suggested the National Police drop the charges against Chandra
and Bibit if they couldn't produce evidence. Instead, police took the two into
custody.
"We will not be vulgar and give you the details (of the evidence) here,"
Dikdik told reporters. "Please wait until the trial."
Chandra and Bibit have been under fire by the police since July and were
declared suspects last month, but Dikdik said the police opted to detain them
because they feared they could influence the investigation by going to the
press, where indeed a good deal of the case is being fought out.
Evidence against Chandra and Bibit, Dikdik said, came from Antasari
Azhar, the former chairman of the Corruption Eradication Commission, who
himself is in jail and charged with masterminding a murder of a rival in a love
triangle over an attractive young female golf caddy. "We've taken this legal
action based on the former chief's testimony on May 16," he said.
Antasari, however, has since recanted his testimony, saying police told
him to change his statement to support their case.
Acting anti-corruption commissioners declined to confirm whether the tape
recordings in their possession matched the transcripts that were published in
the media. Next week, the agency is scheduled to submit at least one recording
to the Constitutional Court, which has accepted a request by Chandra and Bibit
for a judicial review of the corruption commission Law.
Taufik Basari, a lawyer for Chandra and Bibit, said his clients were
unaware they were being tossed in jail until after they arrived at police
headquarters to check in, as they are required to do twice a week.
With additional reporting from the Jakarta Globe staff
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