District court praised for reopening Sjamsul case

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Thu, 05/08/2008 11:03 AM  |  National

Law experts and anti-corruption activists have praised the South Jakarta District Court for ordering the attorney general to reopen the Bank Indonesia Liquidity Support (BLBI) investigation involving Sjamsul Nursalim.

On Tuesday, the South Jakarta District Court ordered the Attorney General's Office (AGO) reopen the investigation into the alleged misappropriation of BLBI funds involving business tycoon Sjamsul Nursalim.

"We support the court's verdict," law academic Denny Indrayana from Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta, told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday. The verdict illustrates that the Attorney General's Office's (AGO) decision to stop investigating the case was wrong, he said.

Frans Hendra Winata, Indonesian Foundation for Legal Studies head, praised the judges.

"The court's judges are independent," he said. "They are not influenced by the AGO."

"The court should be congratulated for bringing justice, law enforcement and state asset recovery new hope," Marwan Batubara, a member of the Regional Representatives Council, said.

The AGO's decision to stop investigating the case was clearly wrong, he said.

"How can we set free a person who only returned Rp 5 trillion (US$543.5 million) of the Rp 28 trillion he stole from the state," he said.

Business tycoon Sjamsul, owner of the Gajah Tunggal Group and the now-defunct Bank BDNI, was said to have repaid his Rp 28.4 trillion debt.

However, he was required to face an AGO graft investigation after it was realized that the assets he had handed over to the state were only valued at Rp 4.9 trillion

On Feb. 29, 2008, the AGO dropped the BLBI cases involving Sjamsul and tycoon Anthony Salim, citing a lack of evidence.

Two days later, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) arrested state prosecutor Urip Tri Gunawan for allegedly accepting a US$660,000 bribe from Artalita Suryani, a businesswoman linked to Sjamsul.

The People for Anti-Corruption Indonesia (MAKI) last month filed a pretrial motion against the AGO to the South Jakarta District Court.

The court on Tuesday accepted this motion and ruled the AGO reopen the case. According to the court's verdict, the AGO's decision to halt the case's investigation was a violation of the 1999 corruption eradication law, which states that returning state assets does not erase the criminal act.

Marwan, Denny and Frans all said the investigation should be taken over by the KPK.

"I have little trust in the AGO. Their records for dealing with big scandals are disappointing," said Marwan.

The AGO should be careful when halting corruption cases in the future, Frans said.

"Putting cases on and off like this will damage the public's trust in the law and ruin Indonesia's image internationally," he said.

The AGO has said it would submit an appeal to the Jakarta High Court.

"The appeal documents will be submitted once we receive the court's complete verdict," B.D Nainggolan, the head of AGO's legal information center, said. (alf)

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