Apriadi Gunawan and Dina Indrasafitri, The Jakarta Post, Medan/Jakarta | Wed, 12/29/2010 10:16 AM
The Attorney General’s Office (AGO) said it believed a court would find former justice and human rights minister Yusril Ihzra Mahendra guilty of irregularities in the provision of an online business registration system.
Deputy Attorney General for special crimes M. Amari said the AGO had evidence from the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) and statements by the state secretary that indicated legal violations in the provision procedure.
“We have enough evidence to convict Yusril. The case files will be submitted soon,” he said in Medan, North Sumatra, on Tuesday.
Yusril was named a suspect in the case that reportedly caused Rp 420 billion (US$46.6 million) in state losses stemming from an online business registration system established by the Justice and Human Rights Ministry in 2001 when he was minister.
Another suspect in the case, Romly Atmasasmita, a ministry official in charge of legal administration, was acquitted of charges by the Supreme Court.
Amari said his office would challenge the Romly verdict. “We have new evidence against Romly, with which we hope the judges will accept our appeal,” he said.
He questioned why Romly’s acquittal while other suspects — notably Samsudin Manan Sinaga, Romly’s successor, and the director of PT Sarana Rekatama Dinamika (or SRD, the company involved in the online system), Yohannes Waworuntu — were convicted.
The Sisminbakum registration system was run by the ministry and SRD, with SRD taking 90 percent of the profits and the ministry taking the rest.
Two years after its inception, the BPK declared the ministry’s income from the online system illegal because it was not listed as non-tax state income, thus causing hundreds of billions of rupiah in state losses.
The Supreme Court acquitted Romly last week because judges had not found any evidence that he committed corruption in running Sisminbakum, Romly’s lawyers said.
Amari said he would also summon former vice president Jusuf Kalla and former coordinating economic, finance and industry minister Kwik Kian Gie as requested by Yusril.
“The two are expected to testify next Monday or Tuesday,” he said.
In Jakarta, Yusril, accompanied by his lawyer Teguh Samudera, visited the AGO Tuesday to request the institution drop their case.
“We came to meet the attorney general or the deputy attorney general for special crimes to forward a letter to request they halt the investigation into Yusril,” Teguh said.
The letter’s contents state that Samsudin’s actions were unrelated to Yusril because the former was a director general under the tenure of former minister Hamid Awaluddin.
After leaving the AGO, Yusril’s lawyers said they had met an investigator and that the letter would be “studied and passed on to the attorney general”.
Yusril claims the charges against him were politically motivated.
