Antigraft watchdogs urged the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to deliver on its promise to resolve cases involving former Democratic Party treasurer and graft convict Muhammad Nazaruddin
ntigraft watchdogs urged the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to deliver on its promise to resolve cases involving former Democratic Party treasurer and graft convict Muhammad Nazaruddin.
The watchdogs, including the Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW), the Indonesia Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) and the Indonesian Legal Roundtable (ILR), blasted the KPK its 'lack of conviction'.
Many of the cases against Nazaruddin are related to the fortune he amassed through his holding company, the Permai Group, which served as a proxy to win government projects that it later subcontracted to other companies.
'The KPK said projects handled by Nazaruddin's companies were worth Rp 6 trillion [US$606 million]. We want to know how far the investigation has got,' Febri Diansyah of the ICW said during a visit to the KPK headquarters in Kuningan, South Jakarta.
Febri said given the fact that Mindo 'Rosa' Rosalina Manullang, a confidante of Nazaruddin, testified that she had handled some 14 projects during her tenure as PT Permai Group's marketing director.
'It means that the KPK still has a lot of work to do,' Febri concluded.
In fact, Nazaruddin set up an additional 28 new companies last year while serving part of his seven-year prison term in Cipinang Penitentiary, East Jakarta.
Nazaruddin was sentenced in 2012 for masterminding the bribery scheme surrounding the construction of the athletes' village for the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Palembang, South Sumatra.
KPK commissioner Busyro Muqoddas said that the antigraft body is facing problems in the handling of Nazaruddin's cases.
He said that the National Police and the Attorney General's Office (AGO) are also handling cases involving Nazaruddin.
KPK spokesperson Johan Budi said neither the police or the AGO, had consulted with the antigraft body. With so many institutions handling the investigation process, it could bungle efforts .
Johan pointed out that many key suspects who could shed further light on Nazaruddin's illicit practices had received threats, including witness Yulianis, a former employee of Nazaruddin, who was reported to the police for defamation by Democratic Party secretary-general Edhie 'Ibas' Baskoro Yudhoyono.
Yulianis alleged that Ibas, the youngest son of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, accepted a $200,000 bribe from Nazaruddin's Permai Group. The money allegedly came from state funds in the Hambalang scandal and were used to finance the Democratic Party's congress in Bandung, West Java, in 2010.
Besides Yulianis, there are five other key witnesses, including Rosa and Unang Udrajat ' another former employee of Nazaruddin, who have suffered intimidation, according to Febri.
Rosa claimed that she received a death threat prior to giving her testimony late last year, while Unang said that Nazaruddin threatened to get him sent to jail if he decided to retire from the Permai Group.
Two months after his resignation, Unang was named a suspect by the South Jakarta Police for laundering Rp 500 million in relation to the purchase of an apartment in Kalibata, South Jakarta.
With so many problems plaguing efforts to prosecute Nazaruddin, the coalition urged the KPK to be more decisive in handling the cases.
'The KPK should take over the cases from the police and the AGO if they were being neglected,' he said.
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