Artalita reportedly visited AGO before arrest

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Sat, 03/08/2008 12:42 AM  |  Headlines

Attorney General Hendarman Supandji said Thursday that Artalita Suryani, accused of bribing a state prosecutor who led an investigation into a massive loan scandal, paid several visits to the Attorney General's Office before her arrest.

"I have already heard that AS (Artalita Suryani) repeatedly came there," he said as quoted by Antara.

"I had also reminded the deputy attorney general for special crimes, Kemas Yahya Rahman, to be cautious and not to play games with case brokers," he said.

The attorney general said he had no knowledge about who the businesswoman met with and what they discussed during her visits to the office.

Artalita was arrested for allegedly paying a bribe of US$660,000 to Urip Tri Gunawan, who led the team of prosecutors who investigated tycoons Anthony Salim and Sjamsul Nursalim over their possible embezzlement of Bank Indonesia liquidity assistance (BLBI) funds.

Urip and Artalita, who is allegedly connected to Nursalim, were arrested Sunday at a house in South Jakarta.

The arrests were made by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), and came just days after Hendarman's office announced a halt to the investigation into the BLBI cases against Salim and Nursalim.

Hendarman said he had summoned deputy attorney general Kemas Yahya Rahman and asked him to pass on a message to all prosecutors, to continue their work and not lose heart after the arrest of Urip.

Separately, the deputy attorney general for internal supervision, M.S. Raharjo, said he would question Kemas and investigation director M. Salim on Monday in connection with the bribery case.

Also to be questioned are prosecutors Andi Nirwanto, Darmono, Sugeng and Halius Husain.

Kemas, who made the announcement that the cases against Salim and Nursalim were being dropped, said he was ready to answer any questions.

Raharjo said "good coordination" had been established between his office and the KPK in investigating the bribery case.

The graft commission is giving the Attorney General's Office (AGO) the chance to lead the investigation of Urip, he said.

He added that Artalita was unable to attend questioning at the Attorney General's Office because of an undisclosed illness.

Speaking in Bandung, West Java, lawmaker Marwan Batubara urged the government to revoke a 2002 presidential decree allowing the government to pardon BLBI debtors after they paid off just a portion of their debts.

"The decree will remain a hurdle in thoroughly resolving the BLBI cases if not scrapped," he told a discussion, as reported by Antara.

Under the decree, issued by the Megawati Soekarnoputri administration, BLBI debtors deemed cooperative in repaying their debts can be acquitted of all legal charges.

Marwan said the decree led to prosecutors halting investigations of suspects who received so-called discharge and release papers from the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency.

He said the BLBI scandal remained unresolved to this day despite it costing the state hundreds of trillions of rupiah.

Marwan expressed concern that prosecutors were failing to take firm action against state debtors.

Anti-Debt Coalition coordinator Kusfiardi blamed the unresolved BLBI scandal on the government's misguided policies.

"How could the government give loans but also repay them? It's ridiculous," he said.

Marwan and Kusfiardi called on students to keep pressure on the government to resolve all BLBI cases and bring the suspects to trial.

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