Prosecutors have come in support of the police's decision to drop the criminal investigation into the mudflow disaster in Sidoarjo, East Java, involving Lapindo Brantas Inc.
The decision was not a proof of failure on the part of police in handling the legal matter of the case, they said Tuesday.
East Java prosecutor's office head Zulkarnaen said his side had learned about the local police's decision and concluded that it was acceptable.
"They have worked hard but there are indeed no experts able to confirm on the cause and effect of the Lapindo's drilling activities with the mudflow disaster," he said.
He added that with the probe halted by the police, the Lapindo case was considered to have come to an end and that it contained no criminal elements on the side of Lapindo as the drilling operator at the mudflow site in Porong, Sidoarjo.
"Forcefully make the case enter the court will only lead to a loss. What is important now is finishing the civil case, which is the compensation for the mudflow victim and seeking for solutions for those who have yet received ones due to the lack of proper documents," he said.
On Aug. 7, the East Java police announced their decision to drop the criminal case against Lapindo over the mudflow that had caused up to Rp 27.5 trillion in state losses.
The police argued that the case, filed by the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) and Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI), failed to show a correlation between the mudflow and the drilling activities conducted by Lapindo.
The halt promptly changed the status of 13 suspects in the case, including Lapindo general manager Pria Agustino.
However, the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) keeps continuing its lawsuit against President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Lapindo, which is partly owned by the family of chief welfare minister Aburizal Bakrie, for possible human rights violations in the case.
Geologist Rudi Rubiandini of the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), who is also an expert witness in the case, said that 11 of the 60 expert witnesses from various oil and gas companies, including state-owned PT Pertamina, who said that such a correlation was there had expressed readiness to present their accountability through public testimony.
"We never said that the mudflow had nothing to do with the drilling activities. Even international experts said it was caused by the drilling activities and not by a natural disaster. The police and prosecutors' office have made a public lie," Rudi told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.
Separately, deputy chairman of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) Mochammad Yasin said previously that the commission would not investigate law enforcement institutions in East Java in relation to the halt to the Lapindo investigation.
"We will conduct an investigation only if we receive a report from the public that there were indications of bribery in the case, as proven by accurate evidence," he told The Post few weeks ago.
Chairman of the legal division of Walhi's East Java chapter, Subagyo, said that his side would present new evidence from the Tri Tech Petroleum Consultants Ltd., confirming that the Sidoarjo mudflow really has something to do with the Lapindo's drilling activities. "We will keep searching for other new evidence as supporting ones," he said.
