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Time to reinvent anticorruption drive
With all the limitations set by the new law, the KPK needs to reinvent its corruption investigation approaches.
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Students protest in Bandung on Monday, Sept. 23. (JP/Arya Dipa)
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he new Corruption Law has been passed despite widespread protests, mainly out of conviction that the antigraft agency will no longer be independent. The new law puts restrictions on the commission’s ability to investigate allegations of corruption against public officials.
An investigation of a corrupt act is conducted within an adversarial environment where the investigated parties do not want the investigators to complete their tasks. This condition requires the entire process to be carefully planned and executed to ensure its success. Two of the most important critical success factors of a corruption investigation are independence and confidentiality.
The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) had argued that the new Corruption Law would cause the commission to lose its independence since it was now part of the executive power. Moreover, the new law stipulates that the commission staff are now part of the civil servant corps, raising fears of the KPK’s independence in investigating corruption cases in public institutions.
The new law also places the KPK under a supervisory council. Among the KPK’s major concerns regarding the new supervisory council is that it will create more layers of bureaucracy in handling corruption cases as some procedures, including surveillance, search and confiscation are now subject to the council’s approval.
Just like any other fraud investigation, corruption investigations are designed to answer primarily the “what, where, when, how, who and why” in relation to past events. To answer such questions, investigators need to be equipped with the right tools, the right competencies, the right attitudes and also the right procedures.
Unlike common street criminals, white-collar criminals such as corruption offenders do not disappear from the scene after they commit their offenses. They remain in their jobs, positions and social status until they are caught. A fraudulent act will usually involve an initial act, concealment and conversion (i.e., enjoying the proceeds). The “concealment” process consists of efforts to hide the traces of the initial acts and the proceeds thereof to ensure they are not uncovered the authorities.
Gathering evidence in any corruption investigation needs to be conducted in the shortest amount of time while maintaining the highest level of confidentiality to minimize the potential risk of missing or altered evidence.
