The Attorney General’s Office’s seriousness in pursuing alleged graft in the central bank’s Netherlands-based unit, Indonesische Overzeese Bank N.V. (Indover), has come under question after the Financial Reports Analysis Center (PPATK) denied having tracked the case.
“We have not initiated any investigation into this case,” PPATK chairman Yunus Husein told The Jakarta Post on Sunday, but declined to elaborate.
Last Friday, Attorney General Hendarman Supandji said that because the AGO could not find common ground with the Dutch authorities over the corruption case, it had delegated the PPATK to look for any indications of bribery in Indover.
“If the PPATK finds any indication of kickbacks in the case, we have high hopes of reaching common ground with the Dutch authorities, and then we will continue investigating the case,” he said.
However, Indonesia Corruption Watch’s (ICW) activist Febri Diansyah said such a blunder was a sign of the AGO’s lack of seriousness in tackling the case.
“Besides, Hendarman should have known that bribery is usually conducted manually and not by transferring money through bank accounts, so I think the AGO’s decision to delegate the PPATK to trace any kickback indications in this case is questionable,” he said.
The country’s Criminal Code allows Indonesian investigators to start an investigation into a case that has occurred abroad, once the relevant authorities from both countries have reached a similar understanding of the case.
The fiasco broke out after prosecutors decided in 2001 to follow up on a Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) report of suspected graft in the disbursement of a US$1 billion loan by Indover, owned by Bank Indonesia.
The report mainly questioned why Indover had paid out the money without authorization from BI. However, authorities in the Netherlands disagreed with Indonesian prosecutors, saying the case could not be categorized as a crime, and instead demanded that all related parties seek an amicable settlement over the issue.
The bank’s former president director, Sidharta S.P. Suryadi, and former managing director of its Hong Kong unit, Permadi Gandapraja, were named by the AGO as suspects in the misappropriation of the money.
The AGO had been requested by Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati to revive the suspended 2001 graft probe into Indover, as part of the ministry’s far-reaching efforts to unravel a more recent mess in the collapsed bank.
Legislator Agun Gunanjar Sudarsa said the House of Representatives’ legal affairs commission would question both the AGO and the PPATK about what had been done to tackle the Indover graft case.
“We will follow wherever the prosecutors go with this case, and if necessary we will organize a working committee to work side by side with the prosecutors,” he said.
Legislator Gayus Lumbuun said the AGO must start “acting professionally and responsibly” in dealing with such graft cases.
“I strongly ask the prosecutors not to be so hasty in naming suspects or issuing statements about indications of graft, if they actually still lack data and supporting evidence to tackle the case,” he said.
