Evidence lacking in Urip case, says KPK

Abdul Khalik ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Tue, 03/11/2008 1:39 AM  |  Headlines

The official anti-graft body said Monday it had not found enough evidence to say money given to prosecutor Urip Tri Gunawan by business woman Artalita Suryani was a bribe.

Artalita was charged under the 2001 law against corruption, her lawyer O.C. Kaligis said Monday.

"There's nothing in this case to do with bribery," Kaligis said.

The gratification charge was denied by Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) spokesman Johan Budi.

"It is not a case of gratification because if so, the sentence will be weak," he told The Jakarta Post.

Johan said the KPK still suspected the money was a bribe and classified the action as corrupt because it was given to a state prosecutor.

"The 2001 law stipulates civil servants are not allowed to accept any money from any other parties," he said.

The law says any civil servant can be sentenced to between four years and a lifetime in prison and fined between Rp 200 million and Rp 1 billion if proven to have taken a bribe.

The KPK arrested Urip for accepting US$660,000 in cash from Artalita on March 2.

Urip, a senior prosecutor with the Attorney General's Office (AGO), and Artalita have insisted the money was a transaction around a gemstone.

The two were questioned again on Monday as suspects.

"I hope everyone will uphold the presumption of innocence principle," Artalita said.

"I don't want to be linked to any party who has no relevance to me."

She was referring to her alleged connections to current Gadjah Tunggal boss and former owner of Bank Dagang Negara Indonesia (BDNI) Sjamsul Nursalim.

The AGO late last month dropped investigations into Nursalim and another tycoon Anthony Salim around the embezzlement of Indonesian Liquidity Bank Assistance (BLBI) funds.

Urip led a team of 10 prosecutors for Sjamsul's case.

Kaligis said his client had insisted the money given to Urip was the result of a gemstone transaction.

Attorney General Hendarman Supandji said his deputy for special crimes Kemas Yahya Rahman would be questioned as a witness by the KPK on Wednesday about the Urip case.

"I have approved this request."

Hendarman said he expected KPK's questioning of Kemas would help determine any connection between the AGO's decision to halt the BLBI case and the Urip bribery case.

At last week's hearing with the House of Representatives' legal affairs commission, Hendarman vowed to reopen the BLBI probe if the decision to drop it was found to have been influenced by the bribery case.

He also promised to dismiss any involved prosecutors, including Kemas and AGO's director of investigation M. Salim.

Hendarman said his office had so far questioned three of Urip's 10 team members to determine if they had breached the prosecutor's code of conduct.

Two of the three included Kemas and his subordinate Salim, who were both grilled Monday for five and seven hours respectively by the Attorney General's deputy of internal affairs.

Kemas refused to reveal what questions he had been asked during the internal probe, while Salim avoided speaking to the press.

"I forget all the questions, ask the prosecutors who questioned me," Kemas said. (ewd)

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