TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Police retain Gayus probe monopoly
A meeting between multiple institutions failed to alter the police’s much-criticized insistence on exclusively running the Gayus H
Change Size
A
meeting between multiple institutions failed to alter the police’s much-criticized insistence on exclusively running the Gayus H. Tambunan investigation.
Case observers question the impartiality of detectives and suspect the police might be reluctant to charge Gayus, urging the police to hand over the case to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).
After several delays, the National Police finally held a meeting on Wednesday on the Gayus case with the Indonesian Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (PPATK), the KPK and the Judicial Mafia Taskforce.
National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Iskandar Hasan said after the meeting that no other law enforcement institutions would be allowed to take over the Gayus case.
The KPK voiced support for the police, despite the hopes of many that KPK attendance at the meeting could help to break the police’s monopoly on investigating Gayus.
“The Gayus investigation will continue to be carried out by the police. We will work with them to provide input,” KPK deputy Ade Rahardja said after the meeting.
PPATK chair Yunus Husein said the police should use the “follow the money” method to track the sources of Gayus’ illicit funds.
The police’s recent announcement that they only charged Gayus with accepting gratuities instead of bribery has triggered massive criticism. Many suspected that the police’s move was aimed at protecting the “big fish”.
Ade said the police did not present any evidence of bribery at the meeting. “So far, the facts and evidence lead to a gratuity charge. That may change depending on the development of the investigation,” he said.
Denny from the Judicial Mafia Taskforce said, “Everyone understands this is not an easy case. Bribery, if not caught red-handed, would be hard to prove.”
Gayus, a former low-ranking tax official, said that out of a total of Rp 100 billion (US$11.1 million) in funds he illegally amassed from taxpayers, Rp 28 billion came from three large mining companies partly owned by the family of Golkar Party chair Aburizal Bakrie.
“The money came from services I provided to Bakrie companies to help the companies settle their tax problems,” Gayus said at a hearing at the South Jakarta District Court on Wednesday.
KPK deputy chair Mochammad Jasin said on Wednesday that Gayus’ money from Bakrie firms could be deemed gratuities or bribes. “There is always the possibility of bribery in a gratuity,” Jasin said.
Under the 2001 Anticorruption Law, civil servants who are found guilty of receiving gratuities can be punished with a maximum life imprisonment. However, legal experts said, unlike bribery cases, the sources of gratuities can escape legal charges.
The law defines a gratuity as a gift from a third party to a state official that is not directly linked with the official’s main duty. The gift can be considered a bribe if it is related to the authority of the official and the giver intends to obtain a favor.
Gayus also said at the court hearing that he retracted two portions of testimony he had given to the police that included details of his services to Bakrie firms. “I never made the statements. Well, the signatures on the transcripts look like mine,” Gayus said.
Gayus’ lawyer Adnan Buyung Nasution said his client had only been questioned by the police about the source of the Rp 28 billion. “Detectives never questioned him about the remaining Rp 72 billion,” Adnan said.
After the hearing, The Jakarta Post asked Gayus if he got the rest of his money from “services” similar to those he did for Bakrie firms. “No.. No... It doesn’t matter now,” he said.
Indonesia Corruption Watch coordinator Febri Diansyah saw a relationship between the Gayus case and the House of Representatives’ probe into state-owned steel maker PT Krakatau Steel’s IPO fiasco.
“The Gayus case has a wide reach that also touches a high-profile political leader. The police are not impartial to political interests. They are structurally still within the government circle,” he said.
The police’s dubious probe of Gayus, likely aimed at protecting the Golkar Party’s image, might be a result of a political deal to ease the House’s Krakatu Steel probe, Febri said. Sources say the company’s dubious IPO involved a number of high-profile politicians from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s Democratic Party. (ipa)
