Yusril ready to confront AGO

Dian Kuswandini ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Mon, 11/17/2008 6:39 AM  |  Headlines

Former justice and human rights minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra has announce his readiness to be questioned Tuesday by the Attorney General’s Office over his alleged involvement in a
Rp 400 billion (US$33.9 million) graft scandal at the ministry.

“I’m ready to defend and be held accountable for the decisions I made during my tenure,” Yusril told the press here Sunday.

“It can be concluded this (case) is more politically motivated rather than legally,” he said, adding he never received even a small part of the alleged embezzled money.

Yusril, a law professor from the University of Indonesia, has been implicated in the case that centers on the distribution of funds allegedly embezzled from a legal administration website run by the ministry since 2001.

He signed two ministerial decrees in 2000 that directly appointed private company PT Sarana Rekatama Dinamika (SRD) to set up the website, www.sisminbakum.com, and another on the activation of the system.

Through the online system, legal entities can register for permits and nominate notaries, with the services offered ranging in price from Rp 250,000 to Rp 1 million. The ministry’s directorate general of public legal administration received 200 applications daily from notaries throughout the country, generating monthly revenue of Rp 5 billion to Rp 9 billion, AGO data reveals.

The AGO argues the money generated from the online system should have been transferred to state coffers as non-tax revenue, rather than to the ministry’s business partner, cooperatives and officials.

However, Yusril argued, “In early 2000, before this system was implemented, my ministry conducted legal research on this matter and consulted with the Finance Ministry. It was concluded that (the profit) wasn’t non-tax revenue.

“The president, as the only person with the authority to determine non-ministerial-level income as non-tax revenue, never stipulated in any decree that the money generated from the website should go to the state coffers.”

When the project was about to start, Yusril went on, the government had difficulty finding a partner willing to invest in funding an IT system, because of the monetary crisis.

“Only two companies showed any interest in this project, and after carrying out some assessment, we chose SRD,” he said.

“Therefore it’s a matter of investment here. I didn’t have to open a tender for a project that didn’t use state money.”

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