ICW urges AGO not to protect its own prosecutors

The Jakarta Post   |  Mon, 04/13/2009 9:34 PM  |  National

Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) has called on the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) not to protect its prosecutors if they are facing trouble with the law.

The message came following concerns over the release of two prosecutors - Esther Tanak and Dara Veranita - from custody despite their alleged involvement in misusing court evidence.

The two were released Saturday following the office's refusal to extend the suspects' detention period.

“Esther is still a suspect in the case. Preliminary evidence gathered by the police should be enough of a basis to extend her detention period,” ICW legal researcher Febri Diansyah told a conference Monday.

The case began with the arrest of police officer Adj. First. Insp. Irfan and a temporary officer Zaenanto from the Pademangan Police. Police seized 100 pills from Zaenanto and 200 from Irfan.

Irfan told investigators he received the pills from Esther. Police later discovered the pills were part of 5,000 confiscated as evidence in a different case.

According to Febri, this was not the first case in which the AGO seemed reluctant to cooperate in handling cases involving its prosecutors. He cited the case of disgraced prosecutor Urip Tri Gunawan, who was convicted of receiving bribes from businesswoman Artalyta Suryani in order to cease an investigation into a graft case involving Artalyta’s relative, Sjamsul Nursalim.

“Based on the facts, we doubt the AGO’s commitment to cleaning up its institution,” Febri said.

Meanwhile, AGO spokesman Jasman Panjaitan said the dismissal did not mean that investigation was being stopped.

"If the police ask for permission to investigate or to detain them we will allow them," he said.

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