AGO probes ‘fishy’ arrest in Batubara graft case

The Attorney General’s Office (AGO) plans to question a prosecutor following the arrests of two suspects involved in a corruption case in Batubara regency, North Sumatra.

Junior Attorney General for Internal Monitoring Marwan Effendy said on Wednesday that his division would summon and question Alex, the prosecutor in question, about indications that the arrests were set up to extort the suspects.

Marwan said that Alex would be asked to clarify after a suspect in the case, Daud Aswan Nasution, admitted he had attempted to bribe Alex with Rp 200 million (US$23,400).

“Preliminary reports that I received showed that Alex actually trapped the suspect by setting up a meeting at a hotel in Medan [North Sumatra]. He had detected that the suspect was arranging to bribe prosecutors,” Marwan said.

However, he said he still need to collect evidence and testimonies connected with the alleged bribery attempt.

A team of prosecutors and police officers nabbed Daud at the hotel, last week. The suspect was with his business partner, Ilham Maratua Harahap, who was also arrested.

The two men, executives of PT Pacific Fortune Management, allegedly masterminded the embezzlement of the Batubara regency budget funds, which were deposited at Bank Mega Jababeka Bekasi, West Java.

The team seized a car and Rp 200 million in cash.

The bribes were allegedly related to the corruption case of the embezzlement of Rp 80 billion from the Batubara regency budget.

Three other suspects, including another businessman, Rahman, have been detained in the case.

The AGO’s investigation director at its special crimes division, Jasman Panjaitan, said that investigators were still hunting for a middleman known as David Purba.

“Alex has also recorded telephone conversations between the suspects from which he knew the suspects were planning to bribe prosecutors,” Jasman said.

“According to the recorded conversations, Daud and Ilham wanted to pay prosecutors to release Rahman from detention. David claimed he had connection with prosecutors and offered them help,” he added.

The suspects have been charged under the 2001 Law on Corruption that carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

Corruption cases have tainted the reputation of law enforcement institutions in the country.

In the case of the AGO, there have been several prosecutors that have been arrested for bribery.

In February, the KPK arrested Tangerang prosecutor Dwi Seno Wijanarko for accepting bribes, while in August 2010, the Corruption Court sentenced the Jakarta State Administrative High Court judge Ibrahim to six years in prison and fined him Rp 200 million for receiving Rp 300 million in bribes from a palm oil entrepreneur.

— JP/Bagus BT Saragih